Techniques for the production of multicrystalline silicon are simpler, and therefore cheaper than those required for producing monocrystalline material. However, the quality of multicrystalline material is lower than that of monocrystalline material due to the presence of grain boundaries.

Grain boundaries introduce high, localized regions of recombination due to the introduction of extra defect energy levels into the band gap. Thus, reducing the overall minority carrier lifetime of the material while additionally reducing solar cell performance by blocking carrier flows and providing shunting paths for current flows across the p-n junction.

In order to avoid significant recombination losses at grain boundaries, grain sizes of at least a few millimeters are required to allow single grains to extend the full length of the cell. This provides less resistance to carrier flows and generally decreases the length of grain boundaries per cell unit.

Such multicrystalline silicon wafers predominantly stem from ingots crystallized in cubic moulds. The general method for producing multicrystalline wafers (ingots) uses a square melting pot known as a Bridgeman Furnace.