A method of fabricating oxide-apertured vertical cavity surface emitting lasers involving the steps of: i) defining, during the fabrication of one or more VCSELs on an electronic chip, a number of mesa structures of different sizes; ii) selectively oxidizing the chip and mesa structures to produce an oxide-aperture for each structure; iii) inspecting the chip to determine which one of the mesas is desired or optimal; iv) choosing an appropriate metalization mask that serves to metalize and electrically connect only that desired mesa structure; and v) depositing, a dielectric top mirror on that electrically connected mesa. Advantageously, the method may be practiced using a variety of fabrication techniques and apparatus that are compatible with conventional devices. A distinguishing characteristic of our inventive method, is that only a desired or optimal mesa is completed while the remaining mesas on a particular chip remain unprocessed.