The residual stress of multilayers in piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems structures influences their electromechanical properties and performance. This paper describes the development of residual stress in 1.6 μm Pb(Zr 0.52,Ti 0.48)O 3 (PZT)/0.3 μm ZrO 2/0.5 μm SiO 2 stacks for microactuator applications. The residual stresses were characterized by wafer curvature or load-deflection measurements. PZT and zirconia films were deposited on 4-in. (100) silicon wafers with 0.5 μm thick thermally grown SiO 2 by sol–gel processes. After the final film deposition, the obtained residual stress of PZT, ZrO 2, and SiO 2 were 100–150, 230–270, and − 147 MPa, respectively. The average stress in the stack was ∼ 80 MPa. These residual stresses are explained in terms of the thermal expansion mismatch between the layers and the substrate. Load-deflection measurements were conducted to evaluate localized residual stresses using released circular diaphragms. The load-deflection results were consistent with the average stress value from the wafer curvature measurements. It was found that more reasonable estimates of the stack stresses could be obtained when mid-point vertical deflection data below 6 μm were used, for diaphragms 0.8–1.375 mm in diameter.