1. Introduction -- 2. Silicon : the key material for integrated circuit fabrication technology -- 3. Importance of single crystals for integrated circuit fabrication -- 4. Different techniques for growing single-crystal silicon -- 5. From silicon ingots to silicon wafers -- 6. Evaluation of silicon wafers -- 7. Resistivity and impurity concentration mapping of silicon wafers -- 8. Impurities in silicon wafers -- 9. Defects in silicon wafers -- 10. Silicon wafer preparation for VLSI and ULSI processing -- 11. Packing of silicon wafers.