A method for reducing/eliminating basal plane dislocations from SiC epilayers is disclosed. An article having: an off-axis SiC substrate having an off-axis angle of no more than 6°; and a SiC epitaxial layer grown on the substrate. The epitaxial layer has no more than 2 basal plane dislocations per cm2 at the surface of the epitaxial layer. A method of growing an epitaxial SiC layer on an off-axis SiC substrate by: flowing a silicon source gas, a carbon source gas, and a carrier gas into a growth chamber under growth conditions to epitaxially grow SiC on the substrate in the growth chamber. The substrate has an off-axis angle of no more than 6°. The growth conditions include: a growth temperature of 1530-1650° C.; a pressure of 50-125 mbar; a C/H gas flow ratio of 9.38×10−5-1.5×10−3; a C/Si ratio of 0.5-3; a carbon source gas flow rate during ramp to growth temperature from 0 to 15 sccm; and an electron or hole concentration of 1013-1019/cm3.