3. Ion conduction

All dielectric materials contain ions in varying quantities. They originate from impurities, depending on the manufacturing process, ionization processes linked, for example, to the absorption of radiation, material degradation processes or, again, the absorption of contamination, such as water molecules which, on dissociating, can form OH ions ^- .

Ion transport differs from electron transport in two main ways:

• the size of the species transported is incomparably larger, and steric effects alone can explain why ionic mobilities are several orders of magnitude smaller than electronic mobilities;

• ion transport results in matter transport.

• The transport mechanism is, in fact, a series...