The authors report on the role of MgO capping layers in notably reducing leakage currents and improving mobility in ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) utilizing compatible high-k Bi1.5Zn1.0Nb1.5O7 (BZN) gate insulators. All room temperature processed ZnO based TFTs with stacked MgO/BZN gate insulator exhibited a much enhanced field effect mobility of 5.4 cm(2)/V s with excellent saturation characteristics as compared to that (mu(FE)=1.13 cm(2)/V s) of ZnO based TFTs with BZN gate insulator. This work demonstrates the suitability of MgO/BZN stacked gate insulators in the fabrication of low voltage ZnO based TFTs on plastic substrates. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.