A method of fabricating MOTFTs on transparent substrates includes positioning opaque gate metal on the front surface of a transparent substrate and depositing transparent gate dielectric, transparent metal oxide semiconductor material, and passivation material on the gate metal and the surrounding area. Portions of the passivation material are exposed from the rear surface of the substrate. Exposed portions are removed to define a channel area overlying the gate area. A relatively thick conductive metal material is selectively deposited on the exposed areas of the semiconductor material to form thick metal source/drain contacts. The selective deposition includes either plating or printing and processing a metal paste.