Very thin Ni oxide films have been prepared using Ni-arachidate Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films as precursors. The preparation of the precursor films is described in detail. irradiation of these LB films with UV light and subsequent heating (350 degrees C) at ambient air leads to rather smooth NiO films with an area density of (3.6 +/- 0.5).10(14) cm(-2) Ni ions per monolayer of transferred LB film.