Nanocrystalline NiO thin films were prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering in a mixture of oxygen and argon and subsequently coated by Pt on an NiO film surface. Very thin Pt overlayers with a thickness of about 3 and 5 nm have been deposited by magnetron sputtering. Then, the modified NiO films have been analyzed by TEM, EELS and AES. NiO thin films showed a polycrystalline structure (fcc NiO phase) with the size of nanocrystals ranging from a few nanometres to 10 nm. TEM observations both of unmodified and Pt-modified NiO films revealed that they were formed by nanocrystals and an amorphous phase. Uniformly distributed Pt particles were produced on top of the NiO surface. According to AES measurements, the presence of Ni in the spectra recorded from Pt pad indicated that the Pt layer has discontinuous nature. Electrical responses of NiO-based sensor structures towards hydrogen have been measured. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.