We describe our efforts to prepare thin ordered metaloxide layers on metal substrates and to characterize them by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy. The primary goal of the study is to obtain oxide layers which are thin enough to allow tunnelling of substrate (tip) electrons yet are sufficiently thick to develop and represent the surface of a bulk oxide. The methods used for thin film oxide growth were controlled oxidation of metal single-crystals (Ni(100) and NiAl(110)) and deposition of Ni in an O2 atmosphere on Au(111). These techniques result in the growth of ordered layers of NiO(100), Al2O3 and NiO(111) or three domains of NiO(100), respectively.