A family of branched quaternary ammonium surfactants (compounds 1a-1c) with different carbon chains were synthesized for levelers applied in copper electroplating. Their inhibitory actions on copper electroplating were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Compound 1b, as representative structure type, was tested by means of different electrochemical methods including CV, polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with different concentrations. The interaction between compound 1b and copper surface was investigated using atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). The results indicated that our newly synthesized compounds, particular 1b, were effective levelers used for copper electroplating. Compound 1b could adsorb on copper surface to form an adsorption layer. The adsorption behavior of compound 1b on copper surface indicated that compound 1b could inhibit the copper electrodeposition, which provided favorable conditions used as a leveler. Moreover, the addition of compound 1b could increase the cathodic polarization, which was attributed to the adsorption of compound 1b during copper electroplating process. In addition, various surface morphologies and crystalline orientation of the plated copper films caused by different concentrations of compound 1b were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) respectively. Effects of compound 1b on refining the grain size and changing the preferential orientation of the plated copper films were exhibited. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.