Wafer (Electronics)

In electronics, a wafer (also called a slice or substrate) is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices. The wafer serves as the substrate for microelectronic devices built in and over the wafer and undergoes many microfabrication process steps such as doping or ion implantation, etching, deposition of various materials, and photolithographic patterning. Finally the individual microcircuits are separated (dicing) and packaged.

Several types of solar cell are also made from such wafers. On a solar wafer a solar cell (usually square) is made from the entire wafer.