We review the progress of silicon carbide (SiC) bulk growth by the sublimation method, highlighting recent advances at Dow Corning, which resulted in the commercial release of 100 mm n-type 4H-SiC wafers with median micropipe densities (MPD) in production wafers <0.1 cm(-2) and the demonstration of micropipe free material over a full 100 mm diameter. Investigations by Synchrotron White Beam X-ray Topography (SWBXRT) and molten KOH etch pit analysis of 100 mm wafers demonstrate threading screw dislocation densities <500 cm(-2). Additional results indicate the positive impact of maintaining thermo-mechanical stress levels in the growing crystal below the critical resolved shear stress on reducing basal plane dislocation densities to values as low as similar to 300-400 cm(-2) in 100 mm crystals. We summarize the steps of systematic quality improvements on increasing wafer diameter, utilizing numerical simulations of the SiC growth system as a critical tool to guide this process. For the economical production of SiC epitaxy, a 10 x 100 mm wafer platform has been established in a warm-wall planetary chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. The combined improvements in the epitaxy process, pre-epi wafer surface preparation and the underlying substrate quality itself have led to a reduction of the device killer defect density from 8 cm(-2) to 1.5 cm(-2) on a volume product like 100 mm 4 degrees off-axis 6.5 mu m epi-wafers. Dow Corning production epi-wafers routinely show Schottky diode yields above 90% at a die size of 2 mm x 2 mm. Additionally, 50-100 mu m thick epitaxy on 76 mm 4 degrees off-axis wafers with morphological defect densities of 2-6 cm(-2), a surface roughness (RMS) <= 1 nm as measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and carrier lifetimes consistently in the range of 2-3 mu s has been demonstrated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.