Medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) has been used to measure at the scale of the monolayer the deformation profile of self-organized GaN quantum dots grown on AlN by molecular-beam epitaxy. The effect of capping the GaN dots by a thin layer of AlN has also been studied. It is shown that GaN dots are partially relaxed in every situation. Capping them with AlN has little effect on the basal plane, as expected, but strongly modifies the strain of the upper part of dots. The experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations, allowing one to conclude that GaN quantum dots experience a nonbiaxial strain, which drastically decreases when going from the basal plane up to the apex of the dots.

• Received 25 May 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.115301