This paper discusses the design of a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) reactor and growth of beta silicon carbide (3C-SiC) thin films on Si. The reactor's hot-zone configuration radiatively couples the graphite heater (no physical contact) to Si substrates with realized temperatures >1500 degrees C. We implemented a four-stage growth procedure using silane and propane precursors and hydrogen as the carrier gas. Temperatures, pressures, and flows varied from 850 to 1325 degrees C, from 300 to 700 mTorr, and from 170 to 870 sccm during growth, respectively. Growth of 3C-SiC was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) with the observation of a (200) peak located at 41.4 degrees. Activation energies of 21.5 and 2.15 kcal mol(-1) were calculated for the kinetically and mass-transport-limited regimes for polycrystalline 3C-SiC growth. The polycrystalline 3C-SiC films with fewest defects and smallest XRD full width at half-maximum were deposited at 300 mTorr with a growth rate of 1.07 mu m/h using flow rates of 5 sccm C3H8, 5 sccm SiH4, and 850 sccm of H-2 (conc. 1.16%). The composition of the films measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the films are slightly carbon rich (Si:C=1:1.2) with oxygen as the main source of contamination. Voids were observed at the film-substrate interface for samples grown at high precursor concentrations.