We present in this paper the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth and characterization of high-performance 850 nm InGaAsP/InGaP strain-compensated MQWs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The InGaAsP/InGaP MQWs growth condition was optimized using photoluminescence. These VCSELs exhibit superior characteristics, with threshold currents similar to 0.4 mA, and slope efficiencies similar to 0.6 mW/mA. The threshold current change is less than 0.2 mA and the slope efficiency drops by less than similar to 30% when the substrate temperature is raised from room temperature to 85degreesC. These VCSELs also demonstrate high-speed modulation bandwidth up to 12.5 Gbit/s from 25degreesC to 85degreesC. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.