We report on a comparative investigation of the incorporation of group III, IV and V impurities in 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial layers grown by the vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism on on-axis alpha-SiC substrates. To this end, various Si-based melts have been used with addition of Al, Ga, Ge and Sn species. Homoepitaxial alpha-SiC layers grown using Al-based melts were used for comparison purposed for Al incorporation. Nitrogen incorporation depth profile systematically displays an overshoot at the substrate/epilayer interface for all the layers. Ga and Al incorporations follow the same distribution shape as N whereas this is not the case for the isoelectronic impurities Ge and Sn. This suggests some interaction between Ga/Al and N coming from the high bonding energy between the group III and V elements, which does not exist with Ge and Sn. This is why both incorporate as a cluster. A model of incorporation is proposed taking into account metal-N and metal-C bonding energies together with the solid solubility of the corresponding nitrides. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.