Nanowire-array metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) were fabricated along < 110 > and < 100 > crystal directions on (001) un-/strained silicon-on-insulator substrates. Lateral strain relaxation through patterning was employed to transform biaxial tensile strain into uniaxial tensile strain along the nanowire. Devices feature ideal subthreshold swings and maximum on-current/off-current ratios of 10(11) for n and p-type transistors on both substrates. Electron and hole mobilities were extracted by split C-V method. For p-MOSFETs an increased mobility is observed for < 110 > channel direction devices compared to < 100 > devices. The < 100 > n-MOSFETs showed a 45% increased electron mobility compared to < 110 > devices. The comparison of strained and unstrained n-MOSFETs along < 110 > and < 100 > clearly demonstrates improved electron mobilities for strained channels of both channel orientations. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.