Experimental study of magnetic thin films prepared by sputtering in a glow discharge environmentshowed that crystal structure and chemical purity, as well as particle size and surface morphology, can becontrolled. Different physical properties, including B-H characteristics, can be reproducibily obtained bythe location of the collecting substrate with respect to the characteristic zones of the glow discharge; e.g.,Crookes dark space, negative glow, positive column, etc. This is the result of variations in deposition rateand energy distribution of the material arriving at the substrate, as well as variations in intensity of electronbombardment and the consequent temperature of the substrate. Typical results on nickel and iron filmsare reported. In contrast to several reports in the literature, ferromagnetic fcc nickel films were depositeddirectly by sputtering. Completely unoriented, polycrystalline bcc Fe films were prepared in whichBr/Bs∼1,Hc∼250 oe, andBr∼20 000oe; i.e., the magnetic characteristics were quite different from those obtainedby high vacuum evaporation.