Patent ID: 7960718

Claim:
A thin film transistor (TFT) comprising: a substrate; a source electrode on the substrate; a drain electrode on the substrate positioned a distance from the source electrode; a layer of metal positioned on the substrate between the source and drain electrodes, wherein the layer of metal includes a microcrack formed in the metal layer between the source and drain electrodes, wherein the microcrack separates a first portion of the metal layer contacting the source electrode from a second portion of the metal layer contacting the drain electrode, wherein the metal layer has a physical configuration having a measurable roughness and oxygen level indicating that the metal layer was formed from a reduction of a metal oxide; an active semiconductor material deposited so that it bridges the microcrack, contacting both the first and second portions of the metal layer; a gate dielectric material deposited over the active semiconductor material; and a gate electrode deposited on the gate dielectric material and not contacting the metal layer or the active semiconductor material.