Effect of post-growth annealing on 10 layer stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) with InAlGaAs/GaAs combination capping layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated. The QD heterostructure shows a low temperature (8 K) photoluminescence (PL) emission peak at 1267 nm. No frequency shift in the peak emission wavelength is seen even for annealing up to 700 °C which is desirable for laser devices requiring strict tolerances on operating wavelength. This is attributed to the simultaneous effect of the strain field, propagating from the seed layer to the active layer of the multilayer QD (MQD) and the indium atom gradient in the capping layer due to the presence of a quaternary InAlGaAs layer. Higher activation energy (of the order of ∼250 meV) even at 650 °C annealing temperature also signifies the stronger carrier confinement potential of the QDs. All these results demonstrate higher thermal stability of the emission peak of the devices using this QD structure. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.