Short‐period GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire array (QWA) was fabricated by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on the GaAs substrate with submicron gratings. A strong photoluminescence signal derived from highly dense QWA was detected in the as‐grown sample. To identify the signal more clearly, all the layers except QWR regions should be removed. However, the small dimension of the sample made it difficult to do that with conventional lithography techniques. We have developed a novel lithography technique which can be applied to nonplanar structures. We could completely remove the (100) and the (111)A quantum well (QW) layers using the technique. As a result, we could clearly observe the optical properties of short‐period QWA by improving the carrier capture efficiency of QWR regions. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.