Abstract: Aqueous, silicate free, cleaning compositions of about pH 9 or below and method of using the cleaning compositions for cleaning microelectronic substrates, which compositions are able to essentially completely clean such substrates and produce essentially no metal corrosion of the metal elements of such substrates. The aqueous cleaning compositions of this invention have (a) water, (b) at least one of ammonium and quaternary ammonium ions and (c) at least one of hypophosphite (H2PO2?) and/or phosphite (HPO32?) ions. The cleaning compositions also may contain fluoride ions. Optionally, the composition may contain other components such as organic solvents, oxidizing agent, surfactants, corrosion inhibitors and metal complexing agents.