This paper investigates the effects of a smart body tie on the bottom-gate polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor (TFT). The smart body tie TFT has been fabricated and exhibits the superior electrical characteristics, though it involves only a minor modification to the conventional bottom-gate TFT. The results show that the OFF-state leakage of the proposed TFT is reduced by about 70% as compared to a conventional TFT. The drain induced barrier lowing (DIBL) and the subthreshold factor are also improved. The output characteristics are also improved, as the proposed structure does not exhibit a significant kink effect. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.