We present a study of indium phosphide nanowires grown by the selective area vapor liquid solid technique using metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that nanowires grown at a temperature of up to 450 degrees C had a pure wurtzite structure, but at 480 degrees C a mixed wurtzite-zincblencl structure was obtained. We also accurately measured the migration length of growth precursors along the side facets of the nanowires by monitoring the length of the non-tapered section of the nanowire adjacent to the gold catalyst. The migration length was found to be of the order of 0.3-0.7 mu m and to depend on the diameter of the nanowire. Up to the growth temperature of 450 degrees C the migration length was temperature independent, but it increased dramatically to more than 2 p.m when the nanowires were grown at 480 degrees C. Possible explanations for the observed effects are suggested. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.