Thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate and fabricating method thereof that protect the TFT and a pixel electrode without a protective film

1. A thin film transistor array substrate, comprising:

a gate electrode connected to a gate line;

a source electrode connected to a data line, which crosses the gate line to define a pixel area;

a drain electrode opposed to the source electrode with a channel therebetween;

a active layer in the channel;

a first and second ohmic contact layers disposed on the active layer and being spaced apart from each other, wherein the first ohmic contact layer is beneath the source electrode and the second ohmic contact layer is beneath the drain electrode;

a pixel electrode contacting with the drain electrode; and

a channel protective film provided on the active layer corresponding to the channel to protect the active layer in the channel, wherein all of the channel protective film is disposed only between the first and second ohmic contact layers,

wherein a bottom surface of the channel protective film is lower than a uppermost surface of the first and second ohmic contact layers and a top surface of the channel protective film is higher than the uppermost surface of the first and second ohmic contact layers.

2. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the channel protective film comprises at least one of silicon nitride or silicon oxide.

3. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second ohmic contact layers expose the active layer between the source and drain electrodes.

4. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a transparent conductive pattern, formed from the same material as the pixel electrode, disposed on and contacted with the data line and the source electrode.

5. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a storage capacitor that contains overlapping portions of the gate line and the pixel electrode with the gate insulating film therebetween.

6. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a gate pad extending from the gate line, wherein the gate pad includes:

a lower gate pad electrode connected to the gate line;

a contact hole passing through the gate insulating film to expose the lower gate pad electrode; and

an upper gate pad electrode connected, via the contact hole, to the lower gate pad electrode.

7. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a data pad extending from the data line, wherein the data pad includes:

a lower data pad electrode connected to the data line and provided on the semiconductor layer; and

an upper data pad electrode on the lower data pad electrode, substantially all of the upper data pad electrode that overlaps the lower data pad electrode also contacts the lower data pad electrode, wherein the upper data pad electrode forms from the same material as the pixel electrode.

8. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the channel protective film is disposed on the active layer exposed by the first and second ohmic contact layers.

9. The thin film transistor array substrate as claimed in claim 5 , wherein only the gate insulating film is disposed between the gate line and the pixel electrode in the storage capacitor.