The ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker: operations and performance

The Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT) is a silicon strip detector and one of the key precision tracking devices in the Inner Detector of the ATLAS experiment at CERN LHC. The SCT is constructed of 4088 silicon detector modules for a total of 6.3 million strips. The current results from the successful operation of the ATLAS SCT Detector at the LHC and its status after three years of operation are presented. We report on the operation of the detector, including an overview of the issues we encountered and the observation of significant increase in leakage currents (as expected) from bulk damage due to radiation. The LHC has delivered 47pb^-1 in 2010, 5.6fb^-1 in 2011 and to date in 2012 18.1 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data, and two times one-month periods of heavy ion collisions. The SCT has been fully operational throughout all data taking periods. It delivered high quality tracking data for 99.9% (2010),99.6% (2011) and 99.3% (2012) of the delivered luminosity. The SCT running experience will be used to extract valuable lessons for future silicon strip detector projects.