Room‐temperature yellow luminescence is a distinctive signature of boron‐related deep‐level defects in 6H‐SiC. This yellow luminescence is associated with the boron‐relatedDcenter, rather than the more shallow boron acceptor. However, the reported activation energy for photoluminescence (0.7–0.73 eV) is in disagreement with theDcenter’s reported thermal activation energy (0.58–0.63 eV) as determined by deep‐level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). We show that this discrepancy can be eliminated by correcting the DLTS results for the temperature dependence of hole capture at theDcenter. By use of independent capture and emission measurements, and a two‐stage deep‐level capture model, theDcenter’s ground state is resolved to beEv+0.74 eV±0.02 eV, in good agreement with photoluminescence data. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.