The structure design and fabrication process of 980nm high power vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes (VCSELs) were reported. The threshold current, output power and spectrum characteristics were investigated. An optical output power as high as 1.42W for a 400μm diameter device was achieved at room temperature. To our knowledge, this is the highest record for a single device up to now. The dependence of the CW emitting wavelength and FWHM of spectrum of a 600μm diameter device on injection current indicated the heating effects in the active region. The output power performance was further characterized by using pulse operation with pulse width from 50~1000μs.