Stress measurements were carried out by the X-ray powder diffraction technique known as the 'sin 2? method' for polycrystalline silicon films grown by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Results show homogeneous biaxial stresses ranging from 110 MPa (tensile) to -210 MPa (compressive). The results are interpreted in terms of the dependence on the growth parameters and post-deposition oxidation. The deposition parameters that could be expected to give unstressed films by this technique, which are shifted to lower temperatures compared to other deposition methods, and the ability to measure stresses in randomly oriented polycrystalline silicon layers by this technique are shown in this paper.