We have studied the dependence of the terrace width of growth spirals on local supersaturation during the growth of on-axis silicon carbide (SiC) crystals. Local supersaturation is adjusted by changing the residual argon gas pressure inside the sublimation growth chamber. Whereas Si-face crystals seem to partly verify the model of Burton, Cabrera and Frank, we found that on C-face crystals, the terrace width is independent of supersaturation. In contrast to previously reported data obtained from KDP crystals, we cannot ascribe our result to hollow-core dislocations or micropipes, as the observed growth spirals arose from independent and closed, unit or double-unit screw dislocations. Besides, we checked that neither the finite growth area nor the influence of the stress field of the dislocation can explain our data. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved