Abstract
Electrical conductions in insulators such as resistance switching, conduction at interfaces, and conduction at domain boundaries and free surface of ferroelectrics are of interest. These conductions are often attributed to novel mechanism such as ferroelectric polarization. On the other hand, these interpretations appear not fully accepted, because the recent advanced theories of ferroelectric domains disregard screening indicated by these conduction phenomena. That is, these conduction phenomena are quietly regarded as the classical conduction originating from defects. In this paper, we examine these conductions in pure wide bandgap insulators in view of defects, using the direct-accessibility (tangibility) of conduction at free surfaces. Although most of these conductions in ferroelectrics may not be useful in large-scale applications, we show that they have fundamental implications on renovations of ferroelectric basics.