The critical sizes of the pyramid-to-dome transition of Ge self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs) grown on relaxed SiGe buffer layers were investigated for the relationship between the misfit strain built in dots and nucleation sites. The strain field of arrays of buried dislocations in a relaxed SiGe buffer layer provided preferential nucleation sites for quantum dots. Burgers vector analysis using plan-view transmission electron microscopy verified that the preferential nucleation sites of Ge SAQDs depended on the Burgers vector direction of corresponding dislocations. The measurement of the lateral distance between SAQDs and dislocations clarified that the location of SAQDs was at the intersection of the dislocation slip plane and the top surface. The samples are fabricated to contain low dislocation densities. The average dislocation spacing is larger than the surface migration length of Ge adatoms, resulting in two groups of SAQDs, those that are located along the dislocations, and those that are not. Atomic force microscopy observations showed a distinctively larger critical size for Ge SAQDs grown over the intersection of the dislocation slip plane and the top surface than those grown in regions between dislocations. These experimental observations indicate that the critical size of the pyramid-to-dome transition is strongly dependent on misfit strain in SAQDs with lower strain being associated with a larger critical size. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.