One such vacuum-based technology could be chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The main problem is that conventional CVD relies on high (200-500 °C) temperatures to activate the redox chemistry that reduces the copper centres in the volatile precursor molecules, with a positive valance, to metallic copper on the surface. Such high deposition temperatures greatly enhances copper diffusion in the material, causing short-circuits between the interconnects. As an alternative, we have recently presented a vacuum-based chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique that mimics the ECD process and is referred to as electron CVD (e-CVD). The e-CVD process uses free electrons in a plasma discharge to reduce metal centres in chemisorbed precursor molecules. By applying a positive bias to the substrate surface, it attracts the plasma electrons, enabling them to reduce metal precursors on the substrate surface without the need to use high process temperatures. The e-CVD process can thus be regarded as a dry form of ECD with the potential to replace the wet-chemical methods, allowing for integration in vacuum cluster tools. The e-CVD has been demonstrated with iron, cobalt and nickel, but not yet for copper. In this study we explore e-CVD of copper using the beta-diketonate precursors Cu(hfac)2 and Cu(acac)2 in control experiments. Previous e-CVD studies indicate that alternating the supply of the metal precursor and plasma electrons tends to yield higher-quality films. By experimenting with pulse and purge times while studying the deposition in situ by a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor, we find conditions where the deposition chemistry seems to be self-limiting. The deposited films are, however, of low quality with high amounts of impurities and no crystalline order detectable with x-rays. We ascribe this to redeposition of ligand fragments during the plasma step, leading to a poor process control during this part of the process.