Raman microprobe measurements of stress have been performed on a laser‐recrystallized, seeded, lateral epitaxial silicon film on an oxidized silicon wafer. The direction‐averaged, planar tensile stress increased from 2×109dyn/cm2in the seed region to 5×109dyn/cm2in the silicon‐on‐insulator region at distances greater than 20 &mgr;m from the seed/silicon‐on‐insulator boundary. Grain‐boundary nucleation observed by optical Nomarski microscopy occurred approximately 11 &mgr;m from the seed edge in this film. Depth variations of the stress were observed by comparing measurements using 457‐nm and 514.5‐nm excitation wavelengths.