A comparative investigation has been made for Cu and Ag films in three states (as-deposited, attaching films after annealing, and free-standing films after annealing) by XRD and TEM. XRD patterns show that, after annealing at 300degreesC for 2.5 h, (1 1 1) peak increased obviously in both free-standing Cu and Ag films, on the contrary, (2 0 0) and (2 2 0) peak increased obviously in attaching films. In addition, a (1 1 1)-oriented abnormal large grain was observed in both free-standing Cu and Ag films with TEM, while (1 0 0) and (1 1 0)-oriented abnormal large grains appeared in attaching Cu films and a (2 1 1)-oriented abnormal Grain appeared in attaching Ag films. The experimental results have been explained satisfactorily by the minimizations of surface energy and strain energy. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.