Thin copper films are of high interest for interconnect applications. However, optical studies, such as ellipsometry, of metallic thin films are still rare as the measurements are difficult to interpret due to the lack of a transparent range and often island-like growth at very low coverages. We investigated by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry the growth of thermally evaporated thin copper films on silicon substrates from 0.5 nm to more than 100 nm, a thickness for which bulk-like response is observed. A strong change in the optical response was observed for films thinner than 10 nm as a result of plasmonic effects. The data at each thickness was modeled by employing the effective medium approximation theory. Besides the layer thickness and the void filling fraction, giving the film density, we obtained information about the mean free path of electrons in the thin films and compared it to single crystals. Cu oxidation was studied by deliberately introducing oxygen or air in the chamber, leading to a fast and pronounced change in the optical response. The data analysis provides detailed information on film thickness and quality. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.