The nanostructural evolution during heat treatments of DC magnetron-sputtered Cu films deposited at different substrate bias voltages was experimentally studied. A growth chamber equipped with two magnetrons and Kapton windows for in-situ X-ray diffraction was mounted on a six-circle goniometer at a synchrotron beam line. Using Bragg-Brentano X-ray diffraction, the grain size, the texture, and the lattice constant were monitored during thermal annealing. Increasing the substrate bias voltage, the grain growth rate lowered, and the change in texture with time became smaller due to a decrease in the defect concentration. Furthermore, the grain size in the as-deposited films decreased with increasing bias voltage. The activation energy for grain growth was, within experimental errors, the same in all the films. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.