The shape memory effect, super-elasticity and biocompatibility allow the Ni-Ti-Cu thin films to be used in different fields. In this paper systematic study have been done on the Ni-Ti-Cu thin films with various copper content. The Ni-Ti-Cu films were successfully prepared by individual sputtering targets of pure Ti, Ni and Cu and the crystalline structure, residual stress and phase transformation properties of the Ni-Ti-Cu films were investigated using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD), differential scanning calorimetery (DSC), and curvature measurement methods. The effects of the sputtering process parameters on the film composition, phase transformation and shape-memory effects were analyzed.