Stable, low leakage current hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) thin film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated using graphite filament on Coming 1737 glass substrates. TFTs were deposited using a bottom gate, inverted staggered, self-aligned, low temperature process with a molybdenum metal gate, a trilayer consisting of a HWCVD a-Si: H i layer sandwiched between two plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) a-SiNx: H layers, followed by a PECVD n(+) a-Si: H Ohmic contact layer, and a final aluminum metal for source and drain contacts. I-on/I-off ratio exceeds 10(8) and the leakage current is less than 10(-13) A, while the field effect mobility is in the range of 0.13 cm(2)/V s and the subthreshold slope is 0.6 V/decade. Time stress bias measurements show beta of 0.156 for HW a-Si TFTs, showing superior stability compared to, their fully PECVD counterparts. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.