Heteroepitaxial growth of InAs was investigated on sidewalls of InP nanowires (NWs) using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. InAs quantum wells (QWs) with smooth surface were formed on the InP NWs having perfect wurtzite phase structure. On the other hand, InAs quantum dots (QDs) were formed on wurtzite InP NWs purposely introduced with stacking-fault segments. Photoluminescence from single NWs attributed to both QWs and QDs was observed. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3646386]