Peculiar mechanism of carrier transfer, excitonic trapping, from quantum well (QW) states to quantum dot (QD) states is clearly observed for the intentionally designed strained InAs:In0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs QD:QW structure. This transfer occurs very efficient at low excitation densities and low temperatures and explains the excitation density and nonmonotonic temperature dependences of the QW photoluminescence. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.