In this paper the pore formation process during metal assisted photochemical etching (MAPCE) of 4H silicon carbide (SiC) is investigated. By utilizing cellular automaton simulations, it was found, that MAPCE can be described by time-stochastic effects as long as the etching rate is constant. When this is not the case, other effects such as the growth of already existing pores dominate, and the probability of new pore formation decreases. These findings implied that porous SiC generated with MAPCE can most beneficially be used as anti- reflective coating or as integrated filter element in optical sensor applications. (C) The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS.