We have investigated the photoluminescence emission energy of InP dots as a function of cap layer thickness. We find a strong blue‐shift with increasing cap layer thickness. The strain tensor in the dot as well as in the surrounding matrix has been modeled using finite element methods and the band gap has been calculated using deformation potential theory. We find good agreement between calculation and experiment. For uncapped dots we find that the emission energy is lower than for biaxially strained InP, and is indeed close to unstrained InP. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.