NOVELTY - Formation of a sheet comprises cooling a melt (10) of a material; forming a sheet (13) of the material in the melt, where sheet has a first thickness i.e. 200 mu m; and thinning the sheet from the first thickness to a second thickness i.e. 100 mu m, which is smaller than the first thickness. Thinning occurs at greater than or equal to 1 mu m/s, using a radiative heater.    USE - Formation of a sheet useful for solar cells. Can also be used in integrated circuits, flat panels, or other substrates.    ADVANTAGE - The heat extraction of the heat of fusion and heat from the melt over the surface of the melt enables faster production of the sheet compared to other ribbon pulling methods, while maintaining a sheet with low defect density. Cooling a sheet on the surface of the melt or a sheet that floats on the melt allows the latent heat of fusion to be removed slowly and over a large area while having a large sheet extraction rate. The dimensions of the cooling plate may be increased, both in length and width. Increasing the length allows faster sheet extraction rate for the same vertical growth rate and resulting sheet thickness. Unlike the vertical sheet pulling method, there is no inherent physical limitation on the width of the sheet produced using the method. The sheet may be formed faster in the sheet-forming apparatus than by being pulled normal to the melt because the melt may flow at a speed that allows proper cooling and crystallization of the sheet on the melt. The sheet flows approximately as fast as the melt flows. This reduces stress on the sheet. Pulling a ribbon normal to a melt is limited in speed because of the stresses placed on the ribbon due to the pulling. The sheet in the sheet-forming apparatus lacks any such pulling stresses, increasing the quality of the sheet and the production speed of the sheet.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for an apparatus (21) for forming a sheet (13) comprising a vessel (16) defining a channel to hold a melt (10) of a material; cooling plate (14) disposed proximate the melt, for forming a sheet of the material on the melt; and a radiative heater.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing is a cross-sectional side view of thinning within a melt using sheet-forming apparatus.    Melt (10)    Sheet (13)    Cooling plate (14)    Vessel (16)    Apparatus for forming sheet (21)