This paper summarises the development of the epitaxial growth process for visible vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The production of these devices Much Lire of particular interest. e.g. for data communications via plastic optical fibres or for Consumer electronics. is a real challenge for MOVPE due to the unfavourable material properties in theAlInGaP AlGaAs material system necessary for this wavelength range. The following stages of the growth process have been investigated with the intention to reach maximum output power and high temperature stability: distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) doping, interface grading, number of p:DBR pairs, oxide confinement layer, cavity design, number of quantum wells, and wavelength alignment. After optimisation devices with record high output powers of more than 4 mW at 650 nm and 10 mW at 670 nm could be fabricated. Single mode VCSELs show laser emission up to 65 C at 650 rim and 87 C at 670 run. Laser operation for more than 1000 h demonstrates the potential of these devices for industrial applications, (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.