Ruthenium dioxide films have been prepared by reactive r.f. magnetron sputtering at different oxygen partial pressures, different total sputtering pressures and different substrate temperatures (RT-500 degreesC). Raman measurements have been done for all the films. The three major Raman features, namely the E-g, A(1g) and B-2g modes can be observed in these films. The films prepared at high oxygen partial pressure and low total pressure show weak A(1g) peak intensity. The films prepared at low temperature show high B-2g peak intensity. As the temperature is increased, the intensity of the E-g Raman peak increases. This indicates a variation of the structure. By fitting the Raman peak, it has been found that the peak position of the RuO2 films has a red shift compared to that of the single crystal RuO2. This peak shift may be related with the residual stress in the films. In this work, these phenomena have been discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.