The process conditions during SiC bulk crystal growth by physical vapor transport (PVT) are studied both theoretically and experimentally focussing on the magnitude of achievable growth rates V and possible correlations with defect formation. An increase of micropipe density with crystallization rate is observed. Growth parameters determining V are identified allowing a general non-dimensional representation of the dependencies of growth rate from kinetics, mass transport and heat transfer. It can be shown that at conventional process conditions of SiC growth by sublimation in graphite environment (5 mbar ≤p≤ 100 mbar, 2400K ≤T≤ 2600K) growth is limited by diffusion and kinetics for very short crystal lengths L and by heat transfer for geometries L> 1 mm. Including possible destabilizing effects due to constitutional supercooling an augmentation of V without deteriorating crystal quality should be conducted by stochiometry control for supression of graphitization and control of the thermal field tailoring the axial heat transfer with process time. Finally SiC growth from the liquid phase is introduced to promise a growth technique for specific SiC material as, in contrast to PVT growth, the closing of micropipes is demonstrated to be feasible.