Patent ID: 8083908

Claim:
A method for fabricating nitinol film using a vacuum sputter deposition apparatus having a magnetron, a cathode, a cooling device thermally coupled to the cathode and a deposition chamber capable of being selectively isolated from the atmosphere, the method comprising the steps of: a. disposing at least one cylindrical target selected from the group consisting of nickel, titanium and nickel-titanium alloy in the deposition chamber; b. disposing a cylindrical substrate that is spatially separated from and concentric with the cylindrical target in the deposition chamber; c. supplying a working gas to the deposition chamber; d. sputter depositing material from the at least one cylindrical target to form a substantially non-columnar crystalline film under conditions where the mean free path of the sputtered particles is greater than about half the distance between the cylindrical target and the cylindrical substrate; e. removing the deposited material from the cylindrical substrate.