The temperature‐dependent stress of boron‐nitride (BN) films deposited by low‐pressure chemical vapor deposition was measured using an optically leveraged laser apparatus. The measurements were used to calculate values ofE/1−&ngr; and &agr; for BN as a function of the NH3/B2H6ratio. Values ofE/1‐&ngr;&bartil;1×1012dynes/cm2and &agr;&bartil;5×10−6 °K−1were obtained independent of the NH3/B2H6ratio. The intrinsic‐stress and the thermal‐stress contributions to the room‐temperature stress were estimated for different substrates and the values were used to rationalize the strong dependence of the room temperature stress on chemical vapor deposition processing variables.