Adatom and bulk nickel deposition onto gold thin film electrodes from an electrolyte containing KSCN, was studied by simultaneous application of cyclic voltammetry and the surface conductance (SC) technique. The latter is sensitive only to surface impurities, which allows monitoring of the formation of nickel adatoms on the gold film surface. At low adatom coverages nickel deposition fulfils the surface Linde rule for surface impurities. The SC response during bulk nickel deposition shows a small decrease due to the increase of the sample thickness. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.