NOVELTY - A silicon oxide layer (304,306,308,310) having a thermal stress and a thickness is deposited over another silicon oxide layer using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. The thermal stress and thickness provide a fracture energy of the silicon oxide layer, less than a cracking threshold of silicon oxide layer. A multi-layer silicon oxide film (312) has four silicon oxide layers, and a thermal stress and thickness of the multi-layer silicon oxide film provides a fracture energy of the multi-layer film that is less than a cracking threshold of multi-layer film.    USE - Method for forming multi-layer silicon oxide film on substrate used in application including semiconductor device, semiconductor substrate processing, flat panel display e.g. thin film transistor (TFT), mask and filters, energy conversion and storage such as photovoltaic cell, fuel cell, and battery, solid-state lighting such as LED and organic LED (OLED), magnetic and optical storage, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS), micro-optic and optoelectronic device, architectural and automotive glass, and micro- and nano-molding.    ADVANTAGE - The thermal stress of the thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) silicon oxide layers is generally tensile, and thermal stress of the PECVD silicon oxide layers is generally compressive. The thermal stress of the individual thermal CVD and PECVD layers offset or counteract each other, so as to reduce an absolute value of the thermal stress of the multi-layer silicon oxide film. The reduced stress increases the critical thickness of the multi-layer silicon oxide film. Thus, a thickness of the multi-layer silicon oxide film can be greater than a critical thickness of the individual layers of the film without causing cracking or peeling. The thickness can be increased before reaching the cracking threshold of the multi-layer silicon oxide film due to the reduced stress.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a simplified cross-sectional view of a multi-layer silicon oxide film.    Semiconductor substrate (302)    Silicon oxide layers (304,306,308,310)    Multi-layer silicon oxide film (312)    Trench (314)