Methods of forming liquid crystal display devices

Methods of forming liquid crystal display devices includes the steps of forming a gate line and a gate electrode on a face of a transparent substrate and then forming an insulating layer (e.g. Si3N4) on the gate line and gate electrode. Formation of a thin film transistor (TFT) preferably comprising the gate electrode, amorphous silicon active regions and source and drain electrodes, is then completed on the insulating layer. To facilitate reduction of the number of masking steps needs to fabricated the display devices, a gate pad layer (e.g. indium tin oxide) is formed directly on the gate line by opening a window in the insulating layer and thereby eliminating an intermediates step (and associated masking step) of patterning the conductive material used to form the drain and source electrode on the gate line before forming the gate pad layer. To inhibit formation of hillocks (and potential electrical ""short"" caused thereby) and minimize signal delays associated with the gate lines and electrode, the gate lines and gate electrodes are preferably formed to comprise a plurality of layers including an aluminum or related alloy first layer, a tantalum or related alloy second layer on the first layer and an anodic oxide containing tantalum (e.g. TaO5) top layer.