We have fabricated thin film transistor operational amplifiers on a variety of polycrystalline silicon films. We have examined the open loop DC gain of these modules, and have observed that higher quality polycrystalline silicon films usually cause a negative impact on the DC gain of the amplifier. In this paper we have attempted to quantify this relationship, presenting the gain as a function of the transistor mobility, threshold voltage and channel length modulation parameter, which collectively can describe the quality of the active film. We have found that primarily the saturation characteristics of the transistor, as represented by the channel length modulation parameter. and the device threshold voltage have the biggest impact on amplifier gain. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.