A metal ion beam self-sputter deposition system, which requires no gas feeding, has been developed for him preparation under ultrahigh vacuum. A copper ion beam extracted from a liquid metal ion source is focused by an asymmetric lens system to impinge on the target which is made of the same material as the ion species. Deposition could be done under a pressure of 10(-5)Pa and the deposition rate of 2.5 nm/min at maximum was achieved. Crystallinity, impurity incorporation, and electrical properties of the deposited copper films were evaluated by x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, particle induced x-ray emission, and a four point probe. The film properties were dominated by the deposition rate, and no significant dependence of the primary ion energy on the film properties was observed. The films with the resistivity of as low as 2.1 mu Omega cm could be obtained at higher deposition rate. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.