Growth stress in hafnium oxide/silicon dioxide (HfO 2 /SiO 2 ) multilayers was measured in situ to understand the role of the sublayers and the influence of the underlayers' structural features. Experiments using three- and six-layer films were performed by electron-beam evaporation. During deposition, the developing trend of the force per unit width was controlled by changing the thickness ratio of the HfO 2 and SiO 2 layers. The substrate material affected the initial stress evolution of HfO 2 film. The structural feature of the HfO 2 layer onto which SiO 2 was deposited and the whole film thickness have a combined effect on the stress evolution of the SiO 2 layer.