Patent ID: 7696103

Claim:
A process for purifying a silicon carbide structure suitable for use in high temperature silicon wafer processing, the process comprising: a. subjecting the silicon carbide structure to moisture; b. chemically stripping at least about 1 micrometer of silicon carbide from the silicon carbide structure; c. exposing the silicon carbide structure to hydrogen gas at a temperature of at least about 1200° C. for a time period of from about 10 hours to about 24 hours; d. growing a silicon oxide layer having a thickness of from about 2 nanometers to about 400 nanometers on the surface of the silicon carbide structure at a temperature of from about 1150° C. to about 1250° C.; e. chemically stripping the silicon oxide layer from the silicon carbide structure using an aqueous etchant; and f. repeating steps c, d, and e from about 1 to about 4 times.