The spatial variation of stress and crystal orientation in laser‐crystallized silicon‐on‐insulator films has been determined using the Raman‐microprobe technique. The spatial resolution achieved is better than 1 &mgr;m. The phonon shift relative to unstressed silicon is in the range of −1.5 cm−1which corresponds to a tensile stress of 380 MPa and is in good agreement with theoretical analysis. Using a laser plasma line as an online reference, the peak position of the phonon signal has been measured with a resolution better than ±0.02 cm−1. Our results also show a 4°‐backward tilt of the crystal orientation along a crystallization path length of 90 &mgr;m. This has been determined using a new polarization sensitive intensity‐monitoring method on cross‐cut specimens which features an angular resolution of ±1° independent of surface roughness.