An amorphous indium–gallium–zinc–oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) with a planar split dual gate (PSDG) structure has been proposed, fabricated and characterized. Experimental results indicate that the two independent gates can provide dynamical control of device characteristics such as threshold voltage, sub-threshold swing, off-state current and saturation current. The transconductance extracted from the output characteristics of the device increases from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] for a change of control gate voltage from −2 V to 2 V, and thus the device could be used in a variable-gain amplifier. A significant advantage of the PSDG structure is its flexibility in controlling the device performance according to the need of practical applications.