NOVELTY - The semiconductor nanowires (220) comprises discrete heterostructure units (222) whose binary, ternary or quaternary II-VI material compositions of II-VI materials are uniform or varies over its length, and n-type and p-type dopants (224) that modify a conductivity of the nanowires. Each of the semiconductor nanowires are fixed to a support (200) including the II-VI materials, terminate in a free end, and have a diameter of less than 100 nms and a length of greater than 2 microns. A metal alloy nanoparticle (230) is fixed to each nanowire at its free end.    USE - The II-VI semiconductor nanowires are useful in electronic and optoelectronic applications such as LEDs, lasers, phosphors, rectifiers, solar cells and transistors, where the LED is useful in: lighting, signaling and display applications such as automotive lighting, architectural lighting, flashlights, backlights for LCD-based displays, traffic signaling lights, street lights and residential lighting; and commercial display applications such as televisions, picture frames and digital camera displays.    ADVANTAGE - The II-VI semiconductor nanowires have improved physical properties, and can be economically produced with high quality and enhanced selectivity and without any unwanted internal defects.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The semiconductor nanowires (220) comprises discrete heterostructure units (222) whose binary, ternary or quaternary II-VI material compositions of II-VI materials are uniform or varies over its length, and n-type and p-type dopants (224) that modify a conductivity of the nanowires. Each of the semiconductor nanowires are fixed to a support (200) including the II-VI materials, terminate in a free end, and have a diameter of less than 100 nms and a length of greater than 2 microns. A metal alloy nanoparticle (230) is fixed to each nanowire at its free end. The support withstands II-VI metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy growth temperatures, and includes glass, semiconductor substrates, metal foils, high temperature plastics, and a low energy surface film (210). The discrete hetero structure units have lengths of 1-10 nm to microns.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The diagram shows a schematic view of an II-VI semiconductor nanowire.    Support (200)    Low energy surface film (210)    Semiconductor nanowire (220)    Discrete heterostructure unit (222)    Dopants (224)    Metal alloy nanoparticle. (230)