Sensor performance of the BABAR Silicon Vertex Tracker after 4 years of data taking

The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) of the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric B factory is a crucial element of the BABAR physics program. The SVT is a five layer device with double-sided silicon strip detectors and a custom readout chip based on a time-over-threshold circuit. The SVT is fully operational since the installation in the experiment in 1999. We briefly review the detector performance after more than 3 years of data taking in factory mode. The high-luminosity running of PEP-II through the end of the decade will increase the radiation level in the SVT above its design limit. Radiation issues will be reviewed and results from radiation tests of the various detector components will be presented. We finally discuss the outlook for the long-term running of the SVT. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.