Abstract: Present experiments in high-energy physics provide confirmations of Standard Model predictions to an unprecedented level of detail. The success of present B-factories suggests that these high luminosity, low energy machines and detectors, with their ability to measure interfering B decay phases in a clean e+e - environment, may be crucial not only to establish SM successes but also to find hints of new physics. After a short presentation of physics goals of next generation B-factory experiments, expected to witness an increase of luminosity by at least an order of magnitude, I will discuss the design requirements of the tracking apparatus and some viable strategies to face the higher event rate and radiation burden. Then I will focus on the results of an RD project of a silicon sensor of novel design that can internally amplify the charge released from visible light, X-rays and charged particles. This kind of sensor could become a candidate as a pixel element of a silicon inner vertex detector.