In recent years, the addition of nitrogen into GaInAs, created via energetic nitrogen species from a RF-plasma or decomposition of hydrazine-based precursors,has attracted a great deal of interest due to the large negative bowing parameter of the resultant semiconductor alloy. As a result, GaNAs/GaAs and GaInNAs/GaAs heterostructures can be grown which emit light at wavelengths applicable for lasers and detectors for fiber-optic communications or absorb wavelengths which make solar cells more efficient. While nitrogen leads to a significant reduction in the band gap of the resultant material, the addition of nitrogen (on the order of a few atomic percent) also leads to a significant reduction in luminescence intensity which has significant consequences for optoelectronic devices. In this talk, growth of the GaInNAs/GaAs alloy system will be discussed. The effects of important growth-related parameters such as growth temperature, RF plasma conditions, indium composition, and arsenic over-pressure will be described. The resultant materials are characterized by x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, and SIMS to create a picture of how nitrogen is incorporated and how this incorporation affects the resultant material properties. These properties are then compared to GaNAs-based photodetectors which show outstanding device performance with nitrogen concentrations as high as 2.5%.