Intrinsic stress dam of 2000-Å Ni films evaporated by an electron beam gun onto Ni substrates has been obtained as a function of temperature. The choice of the substrate material has reduced differential thermal expansion effects, to less than 108 dyn/cm2 for a total stress of 109–1010 dyn/cm2. This figure includes possible temperature gradient effects through the thickness of the substrate. The cantilevered beam technique, with deflection determined by a modified microbalance, was used to measure the stress. External circuitry was added to the microbalance to determine the Young's modulus of each substrate in vacuum at temperature preceeding the stress measurement. The stress in the initial 800 Å of film growth is very sensitive to the cleaning technique used on the substrate. The instataneous stress appears constant with increasing thickness above 800 Å at constant temperature, and it decreases slowly with temperature above 100 °C.