Laser shock micro-adjustment is a new adjustment technique using laser-shock-waves to adjust the curvature of micro-components (micro-mechanical cantilevers). A full empirical study has been conducted, with the effects of laser energy, laser shock region and sample thickness investigated. And, the influences of laser processing parameters on the surface qualities are also taken into consideration and investigated. According to the result, compared with the surface roughness in the shock and un-shock regions, it can be found that the average surface roughness (R-a) of adjustment surface is lower than that of other un-shock surface, implying the surface quality would be upgraded via the shock micro-adjustment processing. A fine surface quality can be obtained by means of adjusting the laser parameters and the thickness of coating, as well as other process details. Such a technique is simple to implement, yet very useful for applications involving adjustment of micro-components in the field of MEMS. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.