We report the formation of In nanocrystals and their alignment near dilute InAs quantum dots (QDs) on GaAs (0 0 1) by molecular beam epitaxy. The In nanocrystals exhibit surface plasmon resonances in the near-infrared range, which can be matched with the emission wavelength of In(Ga)As QDs. The alignment of the In nanocrystals near the InAs QDs is due to the strain-driven migration yielding single isolated QD-metal nanocrystal pairs and isolated QD-metal nanocrystal dimer structures, representing the basic hybrid QD-metal nanocrystal plasmonic nanostructures. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.