An approach for the growth of high-quality epitaxial silicon carbide (SiC) films and boules, using the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technique is described here. The method comprises modifications in the design of the typical cold-wall CVD reactors, providing a better temperature uniformity in the reactor bulk and a low temperature gradient in the vicinity of the substrate, and an approach to increase the silicon carbide growth rate and to improve the quality of the growing layers, using halogenated carbon-containing precursors (carbon tetrachloride CCl4 or halogenated hydrocarbons, CHCl3, CH2Cl2, CH3Cl, etc.), or introducing other chlorine-containing species in the gas phase in the growth chamber. The etching effect, proper ranges, and high temperature growth are also examined.