Construction of the CMS silicon strip tracker

In the last year the CMS experiment has constructed and integrated the largest ever build full Silicon Strip Tracker. The CMS Tracker collaboration set up a unique scheme of quality control to ensure the necessary high quality of all of the 15,148 modules and their super structures. The applied scheme of quality control revealed several problems, which escaped the initial R&D phase, ranging from corrosion effects on the silicon, capton and via problems on the front end hybrids up to aging conductive glue connections. An overview of the construction and qualification experience is given, discussing the major steps which result in the unique experimental device, which the CMS Tracker is currently commissioning.