SILICON CARBIDE (SiC) materials are currently metamorphosing from research and development into a market driven manufacturing product. SiC substrates are currently used as the base for a large fraction of the world production of green, blue, and ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Emerging markets for SiC homoepitaxy include high-power switching devices  and microwave devices for S and X band . Applications for heteroepitaxial GaN-based structures on SiC substrates include LEDs and microwave devices. These exciting device results stem primarily from the exploitation of the unique electrical and thermophysical properties offered by SiC compared to Si and GaAs. Among these are: a large bandgap for high-temperature operation and radiation resistance; high critical breakdown field for high-power output; high saturated electron velocity for high-frequency operation; significantly higher thermal conductivity for thermal management of high-power devices.