Lightly doped silicon carbide wafer and use thereof in high power devices

14 −314 −3A method for manufacturing a silicon carbide single crystal. A silicon carbide single crystal is grown. The crystal has a boron concentration less than 5×10cm, and a concentration of transition metals impurities less than 5×10cm. Intrinsic defects in the crystal are minimised. The intrinsic defects include silicon vacancies or carbon vacancies. The crystal is annealed for a desired time at a temperature above 700° C. in an atmosphere containing any of the gases hydrogen or a mixture of hydrogen and an inert gas, such that the density of intrinsic defects and any associated defects is decreased to a concentration low enough to confer to the crystal a desired carrier life time of at least 50 ns at room temperature.