Indium nitride (InN) dots grown on sapphires by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with an In0.08Ga0.92N intermediate layer were demonstrated. Inserting an In0.08Ga0.92N layer between InN and GaN reduced the average size of InN dots, increased the density of InN dots, and prevented the formation of polycrystalline InN or metallic indium. Furthermore, blue shift of the photoluminescence spectrum of InN dots can be identified when inserting an In0.08Ga0.92N intermediate layer, likely because the InN dots with an In0.08Ga0.92N intermediate layer are markedly smaller than InN dots without an In0.08Ga0.92N intermediate layer, indicating the size quantization effect in the dots. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.