The excessive leakage current of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) TFTs, is one of the major impediments to their use in flat panel displays. The authors present new results on the use of amorphous silicon-based active gates to control the leakage current of the polysilicon TFTs. Moreover, the proposed technology, which is the first implementation of an amorphous silicon active gate recess, relies on a standard process and may ease the design rules for the realisation of TFTs.