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To manufacture the silicon wafer, sand and other materials are processed at high temperatures to purify the silicon. A seed crystal, or “single-crystal,” is brought into contact with the highly-purified, molten silicon. The seed is slowly rotated and pulled from the crucible, producing a large silicon cylinder, called an ingot. When completed, these cylinders can be nearly 5 feet long and weigh hundreds of pounds. The ingot is then sliced and polished into thin discs called wafers—approximately the thickness of a credit card—which then become the foundation of a microchip.
 The diameter of wafers has grown over time starting at less than 2-inches in 1970 to 300mm, or the equivalent of 12-inches today. The larger the wafer, the more microchips that can be made at one time. Typically 200 to several thousand microchips can be made on a single 300mm wafer.
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