Silica opal structures and photonic crystal heterostructures are fabricated by vertical deposition technique. The structures of samples are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and optical transmission spectra. The long-range order of the silica opals is confirmed by fast Fourier transform analysis of scanning electron microscopy image at different region of the same sample. The smooth decline of background in the transmission spectra of different silica opals is attributed to the contribution of scattering from the structural defects. The photonic stop band of photonic crystal heterostructures exhibits obvious broadening and flattening in contrast to the corresponding silica opals, where the effect of film thickness is considered. The positions of photonic stop band show consistency between photonic crystal heterostructures and corresponding silica opal structures. The overlap of photonic stop band in heterostructures is discussed in detail.