P-doped SiGe films were deposited and characterized in terms of their electrical and mechanical properties. Si1-xGex with x = 0.6-0.8 was deposited with deposition rates of 70-100 Angstrom/min at 450-550degreesC. Films with Ge content of <70% showed a very low etch rate in H2O2 at 90&DEG;C; the etch rate increased significantly for higher Ge content. The resistivity of as-deposited films was about 0.1 &UOmega; cm and could be lowered to 5 x 10(-3) &UOmega; cm after annealing at 900&DEG;C. The films exhibited compressive residual stress of up to 270 MPa. After annealing at >600degreesC, the stress changed to 100-200 MPa tensile due to the intrinsic stress relief and the thermal expansion difference between the films and the silicon substrate. In a cantilevered beam, the stress gradient through the film thickness made the as-deposited films curl downward. The stress could be reduced with appropriate annealing. With optimized deposition and annealing conditions, n-type SiGe microelectromechanical systems structures were fabricated to show feasibility of their integration with underlying multilayer poly-Si microstructures.