The Monte Carlo method was used to simulate grain growth in thin Cu films. The model, based on energetic principles was compared with the evolution of measured film structures. Surface, interface, grain boundary, and elastic strain energies were applied to determine the preferred microstructure in terms of different annealing conditions and film thicknesses. Four microstructural cases, relating to different film thicknesses, were developed in this paper. Twinning in the Cu films is simulated by arbitrary re-assignment of randomly selected crystallite lattice orientations. The observed evolution in crystallographic texture for each film thickness can be obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.