The ferroelectric properties of perovskite materials are the basis for technical applications like non-volatile computer memories and temperature dependent components. In this thesis, the basic understanding of perovskits, especially in terms of conductivity and chemical composition at the surface, was extended by using surface analysis methods. On lanthanum-doped barium titanat ceramics the conductivity on nanometer scale was determined by means of atomic force microscopy with current measurement (conductive AFM/c-AFM). First, c-AFM as methode was characterised on atomic flat surfaces of model systems (Ni111), Au(111) and Si(100)). On barium titanat ceramics mechanisms of contrast in current maps on terraces of grains and between different grains were found. The mapping of titanium-rich segregations, writing effects by mean of repeated scanning and mapping of ferroelectric domains by differences in the conductivity are to emphasize. On thin bismuth lanthanum titanate films of different orientation charging effects in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for a contact-free proof of the dependency of conductivity on temperature. The chemical composition of the surfaces and their dependency on the preparation (Ar+ sputtering and heating in O2) were obtained from the intensity of photoemission lines. The most prominent effect was a reduction of the bismuth content due to sputtering. Additional shoulders in the emission lines showed a sputter-induced reduction of bismuth. |