This study demonstrates polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (poly-Si TFTs) integrated with a high-kappa nickel-titanium oxide (NiTiO3) gate dielectric using sol-gel spin-coating and nitrogen channel implantation. This novel fabrication method of the high-kappa NiTiO3 gate dielectric offers thin equivalent-oxide thickness and high gate capacitance density, favorable for increasing the current driving capability. Introducing nitrogen ions into the poly-Si using implantation effectively passivates the trap states not only in the poly-Si channel but also at the gate dielectric/poly-Si interface. The poly-Si NiTiO3 TFTs with nitrogen implantation exhibit significantly improved electrical characteristics, including lower threshold voltage, a steeper subthreshold swing, higher field-effect mobility, a larger on/off current ratio, and less threshold-voltage roll-off. Furthermore, the nitrogen implantation improves the reliability of poly-Si NiTiO3 TFTs against hot-carrier stress and positive bias temperature instability. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.