A viscoelastic finite element model is developed to simulate the constant heating rate sintering of a ceramic thin film on a non-sintering substrate. Compared with free sintering, the constrained sintering exhibits much lower densification rates. Away from the film edge, the coating is uniformly stressed and the density and other mechanical properties tend to be homogeneously distributed. The highest density is achieved at the free corner, which also has the highest elastic modulus. In contrast, the constrained comer of the film suffers the highest thermal residual stress and has the lowest density, which indicates that the edge of the coating is most likely to debond from the substrate.