Monocrystalline silicon

As the foundation for silicon-based discrete components and integrated circuits, it plays a vital role in virtually all modern electronic equipment, from computers to smartphones.

Additionally, mono-Si serves as a highly efficient light-absorbing material for the production of solar cells, making it indispensable in the renewable energy sector.

Ingots made by the Czochralski method are sliced into wafers about 0.75 mm thick and polished to obtain a regular, flat substrate, onto which microelectronic devices are built through various microfabrication processes, such as doping or ion implantation, etching, deposition of various materials, and photolithographic patterning.

For example, without crystalline perfection, it would be virtually impossible to build very large-scale integration (VLSI) devices, in which billions[6] of transistor-based circuits, all of which must function reliably, are combined into a single chip to form a microprocessor.

Despite the lowered market share, the equivalent mono-Si PV capacity produced in 2016 was 20.2 GW, indicating a significant increase in the overall production of photovoltaic technologies.

[9] The high efficiency is largely attributable to the lack of recombination sites in the single crystal and better absorption of photons due to its black color, as compared to the characteristic blue hue of poly-silicon.

Creating space-efficient solar panels requires cutting the circular wafers (a product of the cylindrical ingots formed through the Czochralski process) into octagonal cells that can be packed closely together.

[10] Other manufacturing methods are being researched, such as direct wafer epitaxial growth, which involves growing gaseous layers on reusable silicon substrates.