In this paper, a way of measuring the surface energy of room-temperature wafer bonding is presented. The method consists of introducing well-defined defects. or "spacers," at the bond interface. Here SiO2 mesas were used as spacers. From the resulting nonbonded area. around the spacers, the value of the surface energy is obtained. Results from surface energy measurements show that there is good agreement between the "razor-blade" method and our "mesa-spacer" method. By using the mesa-spacer method, several of the problems associated with the razor-blade method are avoided. The method also allows the nondestructive measurement of the surface energy, which is interesting for applications in manufacturing of microsystems.