A 50 mum thin layer of high quality crystalline silicon together with efficient light trapping and well passivated surfaces is in principle all that is required to achieve stable solar cell efficiencies in the 20% range. In the present work, we propose to obtain these layers by directly cutting 50 mum thin wafers from an ingot with novel cutting techniques. This development is discussed in the frame of a defect tolerant mass production scenario and aims at obtaining twice the amount of wafers as compared to present wire/slurry technology. The ability to process such mechanically flexible wafers into solar cells with standard laboratory equipment is experimentally verified. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.