The strain-induced lateral-layer ordering process was used to fabricate GaInAs quantum wire ͑QWR͒ heterostructures on InP whose QWR layers are separated by different barrier materials. Using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy the microstructure of the different QWR samples was studied. It was found that GaInAs QWR heterostructures with nominally lattice matched AlGaInAs barriers resulted in heavily strained QWR regions relative to the same structure with nominally lattice matched AlInAs or InP barriers. Furthermore, photoluminescence studies demonstrate that these heavily strained QWR samples with AlGaInAs barriers have a wavelength-shift rate of 0.2 to 1.0 Å/°C in the 293-360 K range. This is in comparison to GaInAs QWR samples with ternary or binary barriers and a GaInAs quantum well control sample that have wavelength-shift rates of ϳ2.5 and ϳ6.0 Å/°C, respectively. It is shown empirically that a minimum amount of strain in the GaInAs QWR/AlGaInAs barrier region is required to achieve wavelength-shift rates below 1 Å/°C.