The advancements in SiC crystal growth technology over the past two decades have been remarkable with a substantial reduction in threading dislocation and a significant increase in the wafer diameter. Despite these improvements, the complete elimination of dislocations critical for device performance remains challenging. In this context, lateral epitaxial growth through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on standard 4-degree off-cut substrates with pillar structures presents a promising approach to minimize dislocation density replication into the device layer structure. The proposed method involves fabricating a pillar structure on the substrate surface through reactive ion etching, followed by lateral epitaxial growth and merging them into a continuous epitaxial layer. Through this approach we can minimize the substrate crystal replication into the epilayer and hence the dislocations and other extended defects.