It has been shown that the hydrogen sorption properties of air-exposed magnesium films are influenced by the deposition parameters such as the evaporation rate or the evaporation mode used during their preparation. As the evaporation rate increases, the structure of the film tends to be highly oriented along the [002] direction and the kinetics of hydrogen absorption and desorption are faster. Moreover, the hydrogen sorption kinetics of magnesium films prepared with ail electron beam Source under a high vacuum are faster by almost a factor of two compared to those prepared using resistive heating under low vacuum. These two parameters reduce drastically the activation and the incubation period during hydrogen absorption and desorption, respectively. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.