Surface growth of Ni thin films electrodeposited on Ni(100) substrates has been investigated using atomic force microscopy. In the early stage of growth, islands nucleated on the Ni(100) substrates, which appear to be rectangular in cross section, grow laterally in the same crystallographic orientation. Growth surfaces display a normal scaling behavior characterized by the linear surface diffusion universality class. Along the time evolution, instability in growth occurs and a transition from two- to three-dimensional growth is observed. In this stage, surface growth obeys anomalous scaling characterized by a local roughness exponent zeta(loc) = 1.0, global scaling exponent zeta = 2.1, and dynamic exponent z 5 1.0. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.