Patent ID: 8921857

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising: a shift register supported by an insulating substrate and including a plurality of stages each including a plurality of thin film transistors, at least one of the plurality of thin film transistors defining at least one diode by electrically connecting its gate electrode to its source electrode, wherein each of the plurality of stages of the shift register further includes at least one input signal line arranged to receive an external signal and connected to the at least one diode; the plurality of thin film transistors all have an N type conductivity; each cathode-side electrode of each of the at least one diode is directly connected to the at least one input signal line which is connected to a gate of a selected one of the plurality of thin film transistors, wherein the cathode-side electrode corresponds to a drain electrode of the at least one of the plurality of thin film transistors; and each anode-side electrode of the at least one diode is directly connected to ground or a voltage source, wherein the anode-side electrode corresponds to a source electrode of the at least one of the plurality of thin film transistors.