Gettering of chromium and copper metal impurities to the damaged regions surrounding an implanted buried oxide has been investigated. Cr tends to segregate to the surface Si‐SiO2interface; only a small fraction moves to the damaged regions surrounding the buried oxide. Cu segregates to the damaged regions more readily; in addition, a large fraction of the implanted Cu moves to a location several micrometers beneath the buried oxide layer. The buried oxide does not appear to stop the movement of the Cu.