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March 28, 2001

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Back to the silicon crystal issue.

    This is a picture of a silicon ingot after it was melted and grown in
a furnace. The colors in this image have not been altered in any way.
These colors are actually a natural circumstance that occurs from contamination of
oxidation in the furnace.
    You can see that this particular crystal has no definable orientation
lines on the surface. This is what is referred to as a poly crystal.
    We try to grow what we call single crystals which maintain a more
perfect orientation. They come out with a very smooth surface with small
definable lines all the way down the side of the crystal. If you are curious
I can send you more information and images.