A preliminary study has been made of the magnetic and structural properties of Permalloy films preparedby cathodic sputtering. Films of the nonmagnetostrictive Ni:Fe::81:19 composition were deposited bysputtering in argon both from solid Permalloy cathodes and from copper cathodes which had previouslybeen electroplated with Permalloy. Using a gas pressure of 100 &mgr;, with the electrode potential 3500 v and adischarge current 150 ma, a deposition rate of about 15 A/sec is obtained. When deposited in an applied fieldof 20 oe, the films display uniaxial anisotropy withHc ≈ 2.5 oeandHk/Hc ≈ 1.5. An evaluation of the uniformityof film thickness, reproducibility of coercive force, and alignment of the magnetic easy axis indicatesthat films prepared by this method would be suitable for use in planar memory matrices.