Pictures of fully grown silicon crystal ingots always impresses me: - https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9780128035818010109-gr3.jpg https://ars.els

Pictures of fully grown silicon crystal ingots always impresses me: - https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9780128035818010109-gr3.jpg https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B97801280358180... That narrow section at the top is where the crystal started growing from, and holds the entire ingot during the process, while it's being pulled up from the molten silicon and crystallized as it cools down.