Organic phosphonic acid system abrasive free slurry for copper polishing is developed in our earlier work. Since material removal rate is too high to be applied as precision polishing slurry for copper, inhibitors are needed. Experiment results also show us that the most commonly used inhibitor benzotriazole is unsuitable for this abrasive free slurry, and then another kind of compound inhibitors for this organic phosphonic acid system abrasive free slurry are developed. The compound inhibitors, consisting of ascorbic acid and ethylene thiourea, can control the material removal rate and also reduce surface roughness. XPS results show that, in the compound inhibitors, ascorbic acid participates in the surface chemical reaction, forms passivating layer on copper surface and helps to control the material removal rate. Corrosion current calculated from polarization curve is consistent with material removal rate. Ethylene thiourea contributes to the reduction of surface roughness, which can be indicated by the peak shape change of S-2p in XPS results. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.