The bulk low frequency noise has been investigated in the 4H silicon carbide polytype. In the temperature range of 300–550 K the noise spectral densitySis proportional tof−1.5, wherefis the measurement frequency. A very low noise level has been observed for the bulk noise. At 300 K, the Hooge constant &agr; is as small as (2–4)×10−6atf=20 Hz and &agr;⩽5×10−7atf=1300 Hz. AtT⩾600 K, the generation-recombination noise of a local level makes the main contribution into the total low frequency noise. The electron capture cross section &sgr; of this level depends very strongly on temperature. In the temperature range of 620–700 K, the temperature dependence of &sgr; can be expressed as &sgr;∼exp(−E1/kT), with an activation energyE1as high as 2.7 eV. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.