"Semiconductors and dielectrics are two essential materials and are manufactured by growing crystals. Crystal growth technology involves the physical processes for the production of bulk crystals and thin layers of crystalline materials such as semiconductors like silicon, which is grown into twelve-inch thick cylindrical single crystals and then sawn into thin discs, the wafers. Production of all kinds of crystals from metals, semiconductors and non-metals is essential for numerous high-tech industries of microelectronics, communication technologies, lasers, detectors for medicinal and military applications, energy-saving and energy-producing technologies, and for future technologies"-- Provided by publisher.