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Zn is the common used alloying element in Pb-free solder to depress the growth of interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) in solder joints, but is also an oxidation preferred element to decrease the wettability of solder. This paper provides a potential replacement on the Zn-contained solder with small amount of Zn alloyed Cu substrate to avoid the deterioration on wettability but keep the depressing effect on growth of IMC through the comparative study on Sn–xZn/Cu and Sn/Cu–xZn. To systematically study the effect of Zn alloying, 0.2–0.8 wt% content of Zn was added into pure Sn solder and 2.29 and 4.89 wt% content of Zn was alloyed into Cu substrate. The wettability, interfacial reaction during soldering and interfacial IMC growth of Sn–xZn/Cu and Sn/Cu–xZn during isothermal aging were studied and compared with Sn/Cu system. Zn alloyed into Cu substrate exhibited a far better wettability than Zn alloyed into solder. Although there was no significant change on the composition, morphology and thickness of interfacial of IMC in Zn-contained system during soldering, Zn alloyed into Cu substrate or Sn solder obviously depressed the formation of Cu3Sn and the growth of IMC layers during isothermal aging compared with Sn/Cu system. The depressing effect and calculated activation energy on the growth of IMC increased with the content of Zn in Cu or in Sn, and can be attributed to the CuZn solid solution existed at the interface because it decreased the driving force on formation of Cu3Sn and the diffusion rate of Cu atoms. Compared Sn/Cu–xZn with Sn–xZn/Cu, Cu–4.89Zn substrate provided a similar depressing effect on IMC growth but an exceeding wettability compared with Sn–Zn solder, and can be offered as an alternative under bump metallurgy (UBM) in solder joints.