This letter reports on epitaxial nickel oxide (NiO) films grown by metal-organic chemichal vapor deposition on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The grown material was epitaxial, free from voids and exhibited a permittivity of 11.7, close to bulk NiO. This approach is advantageous with respect other methods such as the thermal oxidation of Ni films due to a better reproducibility and film quality. A reduction of the leakage current in Schottky diodes with an interfacial NiO layer has been observed and described using the metal-insulator-semiconductor Schottky model. The results indicate that these films are promising as gate dielectric for AlGaN/GaN transistors technology.