The production of polycrystalline silicon and wafers from this material is analogous to the production of monocrystalline wafers. There are two fundamental differences. The first is that there is no furnace for growing the monocrystal. Chemically produced silicon pieces are sintered using the process shown in the "Solar Module Manufacturing" video.

ER, Solar Module Manufacturing (Processing of polycrystalline silicon), 05.04.2013 (accessed 10.12.2020). Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5Sgmp1aUjnA.

This part of the process is significantly cheaper and shorter. The second difference is the shape of the silicon block produced. For practical reasons, it is a rectangular block with cross-sectional dimensions close to the standard 15.6 cm x 15.6 cm. After mechanical processing, a square wafer of these dimensions is obtained. The remaining steps of the process are analogous, as described in 5.3.1 Monocrystalline silicon production. Replacing the lengthy and energy-consuming process of growing the monocrystalline with a shorter and much cheaper sintering process reduces the production cost of a single wafer significantly.