A boule is a single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means. A boule of silicon is the starting material for most of the integrated circuits used today. In the semiconductor industry synthetic boules can be made by a number of methods, such as the Bridgman technique and the Czochralski process, which result in a cylindrical rod of material. A semiconductor crystal boule is normally cut into circular wafers using an inside hole diamond saw or diamond wire saw, and each wafer is lapped and polished to provide substrates suitable for the fabrication of semiconductor devices on its surface.