The mechanism of copper structure formation under near-equilibrium conditions in a chemically-active medium-condensate system has been investigated. The desired conditions have been implemented using CVD system. Copper chloride CuCl2 was used as a source material, and mixture of hydrogen with nitrogen served as a working gas. The influence of the evaporation temperature, condensation temperature and state of the growth surface on the porous structures formation has been investigated. It has been established, that the structure formation mechanism is determined by layer-by-layer or normal crystal growth, nucleation and growth of whiskers, and also by partial intergrowth of structural elements. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.