Among active materials, shape memory alloys are well recognized for their work output density. Because of that, these alloys have attracted much attention to be used in micro/nano electromechanical systems. In the present work, the electron beam evaporation technique has been used to growth, by a multilayer method, two shape memory alloy thin films with different Cu-Al-Ni composition. Multilayers have been further thermally treated to produce the alloys by solid solution diffusion. The produced multilayers have been characterized and the presence of the martensite phase in the obtained thin films was studied. Furthermore, the influence of two different coatings onto the Si substrates, namely Si/SiO2 and Si/Si3N4, was investigated. Mechanically stable, not detaching from the substrates, Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy thin films, about 1 micrometre thick, showing a martensitic transformation have been produced. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.