The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of packaged SiC-Schottky diodes under overcurrent conditions and to determine the long term stability and reliability of these devices. For this purpose we used standard test procedures like long term high temperature reverse bias testing and multiple temperature cycling. Contrary to the excellent switching behavior, the SiC-Schottky diodes showed a limited overcurrent capability compared to typical ultrafast Si pn diodes. Destruction of 1 mm(2) devices occurred at I>120 A (10 mus pulse) and I>20 a (10 ms pulse). The corresponding failure mechanisms will be explained. The long term stability of the packaged SiC-Schottky diodes under reverse bias testing conditions was found to be excellent, i. e. no failure occurred during the 1000 h reliability testing of several hundred of these diodes.