Copper oxide thin films were synthesized by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering at different oxygen gas ratios. The chemical and physical properties of the thin films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). XPS results revealed that the dominant oxidation states of Cu were $Cu^0$ and $Cu^+$ at 0% oxygen ratio. When the oxygen ratios increased above 5%, Cu was oxidized as CuO as detected by X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy and the $Cu(OH)_2$ phase was confirmed independent of the oxygen ratio. The valence band maxima were $1.19{pm}0.09$ eV and an increase in the density of states was confirmed after formation of CuO. The thickness and roughness of copper oxide thin films decreased with increasing oxygen ratio. The crystallinity of the copper oxide films changed from cubic Cu through cubic $Cu_2O$ to monoclinic CuO with mean crystallite sizes of 8.8 nm (Cu) and 16.9 nm (CuO) at the 10% oxygen ratio level.