In this article, we study the highly compressive-strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and the broad-area lasers grown by MOVPE. Several epitaxial parameters were optimized, including the growth temperature, pressure and group V to group III (V/III) ratio. Grown with the optimized epitaxial parameters, the highly strained In0.39Ga0.61As/GaAs lasers could be continuously operated at 1.22 mu m and their threshold current density Jth was 140 A/cm(2). To the best of our knowledge, the demonstrated InGaAs QW laser has the lowest threshold current per quantum well (Jth/QW) of 46.7 A/cm(2). The fitted characteristic temperature (T-0) was 146.2K, indicating the good electron confinement ability. Furthermore, by lowering the growth temperature down to 475 degrees C and the TBAs/III ratio to 5, the emission wavelength of the In0.42Ga0.58As/GaAs quantum wells was as long as 1245 nm and FWHM was 43 meV. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.