In this study, thin films of pure and zinc (Zn) doped copper oxides were successfully deposited on a glass substrate via reactive magnetron sputtering at varying Zn concentrations. The effects of oxygen/argon ratio and dopant dosage on the structure, morphology, and topography of films were analyzed by the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Raman, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The investigations through XRD and Raman revealed the formation of CuO, and Cu2O phases during the copper oxide deposition at 20% oxygen partial pressure, while an increase in the oxygen partial pressure up to 50% resulted in the formation of single-phase CuO. XRD spectra of the Zn-doped films indicated the monoclinic structure of CuO with a gradual increase in the cell volume from 91 A3˙ in the undoped sample to 123 A3˙ in the sample with a high dopant concentration. By increasing the applied RF power from 10 to 40 W, the cationic ratio (Zn/Zn + Cu) increased from 0.007 to 0.039. AFM analysis figured out the decrease of surface roughness from 11.04 nm in the undoped sample to 3.57 nm in the highly Zn-doped sample. In FESEM images, semi-spherical particles with uniform distribution were observed. By increasing the oxygen partial pressure from 20% to 40% in undoped samples, the average grain size was reduced from 110 to 68 nm, but doping by Zn did not affect the grain size significantly.