Defect control of local electric fields in inhomogeneous media

The interaction of surface and bulk defects in dielectric media can lead to marked variations in the local electric field from the macroscopic value. Inherent to fabrication processes, these defects impose complex boundary conditions which prevent analytical solutions for the electric fields. To approach this problem, a self-consistent, numerical method to determine the local electric field in inhomogeneous media has been developed. Previous work has shown that microstructural defects tend to focus and enhance the local field vectors, which serve to effectively map the microstructure of dielectric media. In this paper, the authors report on field enhancement factors resulting from the orientation of these defects with respect to an applied field, and the effect of inclusions characterized by low dielectric constants. Results will contrast the direct determination of the local field with EMA and random resistor models to demonstrate their characteristic differences