Crystal growth of silicon carbide by a sublimation close space technique in hydrogen atmosphere was carried out. Usually, in this method, an inert gas like argon is used as an atmospheric gas. In this study, hydrogen was used as atmospheric gas in order to obtain Much higher quality of epitaxial layer. As a result of this, higher growth rate, smoother surface and higher crystal quality were achieved. But, a higher concentration of aluminum was observed. This is probably due to the fact that crystal growth is carried out in a C-rich condition. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.