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Currently available high dielectric constant ceramics enjoy certain special advantages for use in capacitor design. However, there are also severe limitations which must be well understood by engineers attempting their application. This paper summarizes the principal electrical characteristics, favorable or otherwise, of these materials and attempts to relate them to well-known basic dielectric properties. In addition, a brief review of present knowledge of ferroelectricity in barium titanate is given, since many of the practical problems encountered in the use of high dielectric constant ceramics are rooted in the inherent ferroelectricity of the material. A few remarks are included concerning avenues of future advance in high-K ceramic applications.