Silicon carbide epitaxial wafer manufacturing method, silicon carbide semiconductor device manufacturing method and silicon carbide epitaxial wafer manufacturing apparatus

A silicon carbide epitaxial wafer manufacturing method comprising:

• a bringing step of bringing a substrate into a growth furnace;
• after the bringing step, a growth step of epitaxially growing a silicon carbide epitaxial layer on the substrate by heating the substrate and supplying a process gas into the growth furnace to manufacture a silicon carbide epitaxial wafer;
• and
• a stabilization step of nitriding, oxidizing or oxynitriding and stabilizing silicon carbide attached to an inner wall surface of the growth furnace by supplying at least one of an oxygen containing gas and a nitrogen containing gas into the growth furnace during lowering of temperature after the growth step, such that a surface defect density of a subsequently processed silicon carbide epitaxial layer is decreased as compared to a process wherein the stabilization step is not performed.