Process-induced residual stresses can play a significant role in the reliability of electronic components and packages. In this paper, a practical method is developed to determine residual stresses for electronic packaging. In this method, blind holes are drilled into the specimens and relationships are established, between the released surface displacements and the corresponding residual stress, by introducing a set of calibration coefficients. A multilayer 3D-FEM model is established to determine the relevant calibration coefficients. This methodology, which combines moire´ interferometry and the incremental hole drilling method, can provide an accurate determination of residual stresses in materials and structures by precisely controlled incremental blind-hole drilling and an accurate determination of the surface in-plane displacement fields in the hole drilling region. The methodology is implemented by investigating the residual stress in the Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) packages. The tensile residual stresses are determined in both the plastic molding compound and the glass/epoxy laminate chip carrier. The method is accurate, simple, convenient, and practical. More applications, in residual stress determinations and in process evaluations in electronic packaging, are anticipated. [S1043-7398(00)00103-1]