Sputter deposited Cu films on top of a substrate were melted and recrystallized by irradiating under a XeCl (308 nm) excimer laser with a 45 ns pulse duration at substrate temperatures of 20, 365, and 440 °C. The properties of the irradiated film, such as sheet resistance, reflectance, grain size, stress, and preferred orientation were characterized as a function of the laser fluence at each of temperatures. The results show a decrease in sheet resistance and specular reflectance, and an increase in grain size after laser irradiation. The net stress of the film stack changes from compressive to tensile with substrate heating and laser irradiation and the polycrystalline orientation of the Cu films changes from (111) for the as‐deposited sample to (110) after laser irradiation. The significance of these results is discussed.