We examined the characteristics of indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) on polyimide (PI) substrates for next-generation flexible display application. In this study, the ITZO TFT was fabricated and analyzed with a SiOx/ SiNx gate insulator deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) below 350 oC. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) results revealed that the oxygen vacancies and impurities such as H, OH and H2O increased at ITZO/gate insulator interface. Our study suggests that the hydrogen related impurities existing in the PI and gate insulator were diffused into the channel during the fabrication process. We demonstrate that these impurities and oxygen vacancies in the ITZO channel/gate insulator may cause degradation of the electrical characteristics and bias stability. Therefore, in order to realize high performance oxide TFTs for flexible displays, it is necessary to develop a buffer layer (e.g., Al2O3) that can sufficiently prevent the diffusion of impurities into the channel.