Ultrashort pulsed laser ablation in vacuum of different targets was performed in order to investigate the possibility of producing nanoparticles with controlled size and shape. A systematic morphology characterization of deposited products was performed for nickel and silicon as a function of laser pulse intensity and wavelength, at a fixed pulse repetition rate. The nanoparticles were investigated by atomic force microscopy, and clear trends for their size and shape anisotropy were evidenced. The best conditions to obtain nanosized particles of oblate ellipsoidal shape, with the minor axis below 10 nm, were determined in the case of nickel targets. Our results show that ultrashort pulse laser deposition can be considered as an interesting technique for the tailoring of nanogranular films with the desired particles dimension and shape, according to the peculiar properties required in specific applications. Moreover, the preliminary features are very promising from the point of view of the production of magnetoresistive films with specific anisotropy. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.