Silicon detector systems in high energy physics

Silicon sensors have been used in High Energy Physics for about 25 years. They have been continuously improved to meet new requirements and challenges. Based on a simple detection principle many different types of silicon sensors have been developed. This article gives an introduction to the basic properties of silicon sensors and the related readout electronics. Then several silicon sensor types are described, which are the building blocks of detectors for tracking and scintillator readout. Besides reviewing state of the art sensor types some new developments will be discussed. This includes extremely radiation hard sensors, novel sensors for photon counting and especially trends to integrate sensor and readout electronics into monolithic devices. Finally some selected examples of large detector systems in existing or planned experiments will be reviewed.