Abstract: A semiconductor memory device comprising memory cells having stacked capacitors has a stacked structure formed by the selective removal of a polycrystalline silicon film (15; 20) and a silicon oxide film (18a; 18), employing the same mask (14). A field effect transistor connected to a stacked capacitor has a gate electrode (20) formed of the above described polycrystalline silicon film. This polycrystalline silicon film (20) is formed on the major surface of a semiconductor substrate. The above described silicon oxide film (18) as an upper layer insulating film formed on the gate electrode (20) has a residual stress not more than 10.sup.9 dyn/cm.sup.2.