A study of radiation damage of position sensitive silicon detectors (PSDs), for use as a position monitor of high energy heavy ion beams, was carried out. It is revealed that the position linearity of the standard PSD is strongly affected even by an absorbed dose around 100 Gy. The reason of the distortion of position linearity was considered to be a positive charge build-up in the SiO 2 layer covering the PSD. To overcome the problem, new types of PSDs have been developed raising impurity density in the resistive layer and removing the SiO 2 layer. A PSD with a distortion of less than 100 μm over an effective area of 13 mm × 13 mm is obtained which is usable as a heavy ion beam monitor.