Silicon sensor probing and radiation studies for the LHCb Silicon Tracker

The LHCb Silicon Tracker (ST) will be built using silicon micro-strip technology. A total of 1400 sensors, with strip pitches of approximately 200~$\mu$m and three different substrate thicknesses, will be used to cover the sensitive area with readout strips up to 38 cm in length. We present the quality assurance program followed by the ST group together with the results obtained for the first batches of sensors from the main production. In addition, we report on an investigation of the radiation hardness of the sensors. Prototype sensors were irradiated with 24~GeV/c protons up to fluences equivalent to 20 years of LHCb operation. The damage coefficient for the leakage current was studied, and full depletion voltages were determined