The residual stress in ZrO2 films prepared by electron beam evaporation was measured by viewing the substrate deflection using an optical interference method. The influence of deposition temperatures and deposition rates on the residual stress was studied. The results show that residual stress in ZrO2 films changes from tensile to compressive with the increase of deposition temperature and deposition rate and the value of the compressive stress increase with the increase of deposition temperature. At the same time, the microstructure of the ZrO2 films was inspected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The relationship between the residual stress and the microstructure was also discussed.