NiO thin films with varied oxygen contents are grown on Si(100) and c-Al2O3 at a substrate temperature of 300 degrees C using pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering. We characterize the structure and optical properties of NiO changes as functions of the oxygen content. NiO with the cubic structure, single phase, and predominant orientation along (111) is found on both substrates. X-ray diffraction and pole figure analysis further show that NiO on the Si(100) substrate exhibits fiber-textured growth, while twin domain epitaxy was achieved on c-Al2O3, with NiO(111) k Al2O3(0001) and NiO[1 (1) over bar0]k Al2O3[10 (1) over bar0] or NiO[(1) over bar 10]k Al2O3[2 (1) over bar(1) over bar0] epitaxial relationship. The oxygen content in NiO films did not have a significant effect on the refractive index, extinction coefficient, and absorption coefficient. This suggests that the optical properties of NiO films remained unaffected by changes in the oxygen content.