A vacuum deposition method for fabricating high-strength nitinol films by sputter depositing nickel and titanium from a heated sputtering target, and controlling the sputter deposition process parameters in order to create high-strength nitinol films that exhibit shape memory and/or superelastic properties without the need for precipitation annealing to attenuate the transition conditions of the deposited material. A vacuum deposited nitinol film having high-strength properties equal to or better than wrought nitinol films and which are characterized by having non-columnar crystal grain structures.