We report the results of the characterization of Cu oxide thin films deposited by radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering at different annealing temperatures. The deposited Cu oxide thin films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Xray photoelectron spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The thickness of the films was about 180 nm and the monoclinic CuO phase was detected. The $CuO_2$ and $Cu(OH)_2$ phases were grown as amorphous phase and the ratio of the three phases were independent on the annealing temperature. The surface of Cu oxide films changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic as the annealing temperature increased. This phenomenon is due to the increase of the surface roughness. The direct optical band gap was also obtained and laid in the range between 2.36 and 3.06 eV.