The effects of etching on-axis 6H-SiC(0 0 0 1) substrates in H-2 and HCl/H-2 on the surface defects and the polytype of subsequently deposited SIC films are reported. The surface step periodicity and height varied with etching conditions and whether a SiC coating was present or absent on the susceptor. The SC-SIG films grown on etched substrates had higher crystal quality and lower double positioning boundary (DPB) densities compared to the 3C-SiC films grown on the as-received substrates. DPB-free growth of 3C-SiC was achieved via step flow growth on etched substrates with well-defined three-bilayer step heights at high temperatures (1475 degreesC) and low silane concentrations (< 50ppm SiH4/H-2) A mechanism is proposed to explain the DPBs-free growth of the 3C-SiC films based on the metastable step flow growth and the control of the number and the sites where 3C-SiC nucleates.