Conducting atomic force microscopy images of bulk semiconducting BaTiO3 surfaces show clear
stripe domain contrast. High local conductance correlates with strong out-of-plane polarization
(mapped independently using piezoresponse force microscopy), and current-voltage characteristics
are consistent with dipole-induced alterations in Schottky barriers at the metallic tip-ferroelectric
interface. Indeed, analyzing current-voltage data in terms of established Schottky barrier models
allows relative variations in the surface polarization, and hence the local domain structure, to be
determined. Fitting also reveals the signature of surface-related depolarizing fields concentrated
near domain walls. Domain information obtained from mapping local conductance appears to be
more surface-sensitive than that from piezoresponse force microscopy. In the right materials systems,
local current mapping could therefore represent a useful complementary technique for evaluating
polarization and local electric fields with nanoscale resolution