The present invention relates to a process for producing a semiconductor wafer by dicing a single crystal ingot into rectangular plate-like portions, preferably in a region close to the growing end thereof, and then grinding the wafer. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for producing a wafer by cutting or slicing an ingot to remove the growing end part thereof and to thereafter finely grind the remaining wafer. Semiconductor wafers are commonly cut out from a single crystal ingot using wire saws (wires), and in recent years grinding machines for grinding wafers have come to be used. In a conventional process, the single crystal ingot is cut with a wire to remove the growing end part of the ingot. The cutting region in which a blade cuts into the ingot is determined by the type and thickness of the blade, while the thickness of the cutting blade and the rotation speed of the wire are controlled in correspondence to the wire-cutting conditions. The blade rotates at high speed of, e.g., 1500 r.p.m. In the case where wire sawing is used, the feed speed of the ingot is controlled at, e.g., 0.03 mm/min, while the feed speed of the wire is kept equal to, or higher than, the feed speed of the ingot. With the above method of wire sawing, a wafer is cut from the growing end part of the ingot. Therefore, if ingot cooling is not sufficient, the ingot is damaged in the cutting region to produce dislocations, which result in a defective wafer. A method for slicing the ingot at its growing end is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,487. The process for the production of a silicon wafer disclosed therein comprises the steps of rotating a single crystal ingot, having a growing end and a major portion adjacent thereto; driving a single crystal infeed into the ingot along the major portion thereof; the ingot being advanced toward a cutting position at a substantially constant rate; applying a tensile stress to the ingot in the direction of the length thereof at the cutting position to induce fracture in a region remote from the cutting position; rotating the ingot at the cutting position; applying a transverse force to the ingot; cutting the ingot in the direction of the length thereof to form a silicon wafer of substantially uniform thickness and dimension; and continuously repeating the steps of applying a tensile stress, rotating, and applying a transverse force to cause the ingot to be cut to form a stack of wafers, or alternately applying stresses in alternate directions. The method disclosed in the above patent makes it possible to slice the ingot along the length of the ingot, or in other words, the section thereof from which the silicon wafer is to be sliced out, i.e., in a direction substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the wafer. In practice, however, there are few methods for slicing a wafer from a silicon ingot, especially from an ingot having a diameter of 200 mm or more, by cutting the ingot lengthwise in a direction perpendicular to the major surface of the wafer. The reason is that the above process requires rotating the ingot at a rate of about 60 rpm to 100 rpm, making it impossible to advance the ingot at a uniform rate. As a result, the ingot cannot be made to travel smoothly while being subjected to tension in the region of the slicing cut. Moreover, applying a tensile force in one direction increases the occurrence of dislocation in the cut plane, making it difficult to provide wafers having uniform crystal orientation. As described above, with the conventional method for slicing a single crystal ingot, a wafer is cut from the growing end of the ingot. Therefore, if ingot cooling is not sufficient, the ingot is damaged in the cutting region to produce dislocations, which result in a defective wafer. In recent years, an ingot having a diameter as large as 300 mm or more has come to be produced using the Czochralski (CZ) method, which method produces high quality wafers. A wafer having such a large diameter is much more difficult to slice from a growing end of the ingot than a wafer having a diameter of 200 mm, because the yield per ingot tends to be reduced with the increase in the diameter of the wafer. Therefore, the production of wafers has been increasingly demanded. Further, if slicing is performed from a growing end of an ingot having a large diameter, the silicon ingot is damaged in the slicing area to produce dislocations, which result in defective wafers. It has been difficult to cut wafers satisfactorily from an ingot having a large diameter, while maintaining the quality of the wafer to produce a satisfactory wafer having a reduced number of defective regions. In the production of a silicon wafer, it is generally known that, when a wafer is sliced from a single crystal ingot having a diameter of 200 mm or more, the growth of dislocations due to the crystal grain boundaries are reduced by first cutting off the region of the ingot to be sliced out with a wire and then slicing the ingot. It is believed that the above method reduces the number of dislocations. As a matter of fact, such an operation has been employed to improve the quality of the wafer, or the number of dislocations. The process for producing a silicon wafer, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 60-160128, uses a method in which a cutting blade is mounted at the upper end of an ingot using a dummy wafer having the same diameter as the wafer to be sliced, thereby allowing the growth of dislocations to be restricted. In the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No