temperatures in the second partial region 5 of the surface 3 and the attendant degradation of the seed crystal 2 in particular the coating 7 prevents the following 1 the sublimation of silicon si from the sic in the reaction vessel for instance through pores in the seed holder 9 or through interstices between the seed crystal 2 and the seed holder 9 that are formed in particular in a preceding mechanical machining operation 2 the diffusion of silicon in particular out of the seed crystal 2 into the seed holder 9 as well as 3 a chemical reaction of the silicon from the sic of the seed crystal 2 with the material such as graphite of the seed holder 9 to that end one or more materials are used for the coating 7 that do not evaporate at the growth temperatures which are employed namely materials that do not react chemically with either the sic of the seed crystal 2 or the sic in the gas phase in the reaction vessel slight variation in the composition or a crystallographic modification change in the coating 7 during the sublimation process are allowable as long as the aforementioned properties of the coating 7 are preserved if the coating 7 is in contact with a seed holder 9 as shown then the coating 7 should also be chemically resistant to the material of the seed holder 9 suitable materials for the coating 7 are for instance high melting metals such as tungsten w tantalum ta or molybdenum mo and compounds of these metals with one another such as alloys and with other chemical elements preferred metal compounds are metal silicides.