The influence of epitaxial growth conditions such as C/Si ratio, growth temperature and growth rate on the propagation of basal plane dislocation from a 4H-SiC substrate to the epilayer was studied by reflection X-ray topography. It was observed that the growth temperature has no effect on the propagation of basal plane dislocation. On the contrary, a large number of basal plane dislocations in the substrate tend to propagate as basal plane dislocations into the epilayer under low C/Si ratio condition. A higher growth rate at a constant C/Si ratio also enhances the propagation of basal plane dislocation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.