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This study systematically investigates the influence of antimony (Sb) species on the electrical properties of Sb-doped zinc oxide (SZO) thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition in an oxygen-rich environment. The Sb species-related defects were controlled through a qualitative change in energy per atom by increasing the Sb content in the Sb2O3:ZnO-ablating target. By increasing the content of Sb2O3 (wt.%) in the target, Sb3+ became the dominant Sb ablation species in the plasma plume. Consequently, n-type conductivity was converted to p-type conductivity in the SZO thin films prepared using the ablating target containing 2 wt.% Sb2O3. The substituted Sb species in the Zn site (SbZn3+ and SbZn+) were responsible for forming n-type conductivity at low-level Sb doping. On the other hand, the Sb–Zn complex defects (SbZn–2VZn) contributed to the formation of p-type conductivity at high-level doping. The increase in Sb2O3 content in the ablating target, leading to a qualitative change in energy per Sb ion, offers a new pathway to achieve high-performing optoelectronics using ZnO-based p–n junctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A capacitive force sensor is one of the electronics components used in several electronic devices and applications. An improvement of sensing characteristics of the sensor, for example sensitivity and response time, becomes an interesting research topic. The alternative approach to enhance the sensitivity and response time of polydimethylsiloxane‐based capacitive force sensors is proposed by introducing poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulphonate, a conductive polymer, into polydimethylsiloxane active layer. Two sensors using different active layers, (i) polydimethylsiloxane (conventional sensor) and (ii) poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulphonate mixed polydimethylsiloxane (modified sensor), were fabricated and characterised to reveal the sensing enhancement. Interestingly, the modified sensor shows the significant increase in the sensitivity from 0.7 to 1.14 kPa–1 (+62.86%) and the shortening response time from 1.55 to 0.43 s (−72.26%) with respect to the conventional sensor. In addition, the deterioration in elastic behaviour and the faster charge–discharge behaviour observed from the poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulphonate mixed polydimethylsiloxane film indicate the better deformation and charge transport than that from polydimethylsiloxane film. Therefore, it can be concluded that the conductive poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate additive plays the role of mechanical and electrical modification of the polydimethylsiloxane active layer leading to the enhancement in sensitivity and response time of the polydimethylsiloxane‐based capacitive force sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]