Vertical self-organized nanotips were grown on InGaN film via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and thermal annealing. It was found that the typical height of these nanotips is 20 nm with an average width of 1 nm. It was also found that the local density of the vertically grown self-assembled InGaN nanotips could reach 1.6 X 10(13) cm(-2). The possible formation mechanism of self-assembled nanotips has been also discussed in this work. Such a small size of vertical nanotips could show strong quantum localization effects and have potential applications in field emission devices, near-field microscopy, and blue photonics. (c) 2005 American Vacuum Society.