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Nickel thin film, aimed at catalyst layer for HWC-in plasma-PECVD-growth of graphene, has been deposited on SiO2 glass by thermal evaporation method. The thickness of the as-deposited Ni films was not uniform ranging from 200 nm to 700 nm as revealed from cross sectional SEM image. To reduce the film thickness and improve the crystal quality of the films, the samples were annealed in the furnace with three different temperatures, T = 400 oC, 500 oC, and 600 oC, for three hours. SEM images of the post-treatment indicated that the film thickness decreased to about 100 – 200 nm after annealed at 500oC for 3 hours. Increasing the annealing temperature to 600oC leads the nickel atoms out of the substrate so that it leaves the substrate without nickel thin film anymore. The disappearing of the Nickel film after annealing at temperature 600oC was confirmed by EDS spectrum examination which showed that there was no nickel element in the sample. Due to the loss of nickel thin film after annealing at 600oC, we set the annealing temperature at 500oC and optimized duration of annealing. It was found that after annealing for 5 hours the thickness of thin film is about 55 nm - 85 nm with some spreaded piles on the film. The obtained thickness of thin film in tens of order magnitude is the expected result for graphene growth.