A comprehensive study on the mechanical behavior of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon oxide, oxynitride and nitride thin films is provided. Hardness, Young's modulus, yield stress, fracture stress and fracture toughness values are determined by the nanoindentation and the micro-cantilever deflection technique. The micro-cantilever deflection technique is discussed in terms of measurement accuracy and reproducibility and the results are compared with standard nanoindentation measurements. Correlations between the yield and fracture behavior, which have been observed for glass fibers, are discussed in this paper for dielectric thin film glasses. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.