ALICE ITS 3: the first truly cylindrical inner tracker

The high integration density of MAPS, with silicon sensor and readout electronics implemented in the same device, allows very thin structures with a greatly reduced material budget. Thicknesses of \mathcal{O}50~\mu), values at which silicon chips become flexible, are readily used in many applications. In addition, MAPS can be produced in sensors of wafer size by a process known as stitching. This in turn allows to build detector elements...