A wafer is generally a thin slice of semiconductor material (e.g. silicon crystal) used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other micro devices. Undergoing many micro fabrication process steps such as doping or ion implantation, the wafer serves as the substrate for microelectronic devices built in and over the wafer. Several types of solar cells are made from such wafers.

A solar wafer is a circular solar cell made using the entire wafer instead of cutting it into smaller, rectangular solar cells. Made from high-purity silicon, the ingot is prepared to produce the wafer. One process used to produce monocrystalline wafers is known as Czochralski Growth, which was invented by the Polish chemist, Jan Czochralski. In this process, a cylindrical ingot of high-purity, crystalline silicon is formed by pulling a seed crystal from a "melt." The surface of the wafer aligns in one of several relative directions known as crystal orientations. Orientations of solar wafers are defined by the miller index with type [100]s being the most common for silicon. These are prepared into stacks which are in turn cut into very thin discs (wafers) with the help of modern wire-cutting technology.

After cleaning and intensive final checks, the monocrystalline wafers form the basis of the production of solar cells, and the physical semiconductor quality determines the attainable efficiency in the manufacturing of solar cells.

	Single		Czochralski
	Boron(P-type)
	0.5 ~ 6.0	ohm-cm
	<100>±3	deg
	10	μsec
	0.5E+18	atoms/㎤
	1.0E+18	atoms/㎤
	3000	ea/㎤
	Quasi-square
	200±30	㎛
	156±0.5	㎜
	200±1.0	㎜
	50	㎛
	70	㎛
	70	㎛
	None
	None
	None
	None
	20	㎛