The transient ion drift (TID) method was used to measure quenched interstitial copper concentrations in both copper plated and copper implanted silicon. Comparison with existing literature data allows one to conclude that, contrary to the general expectation, it is possible to quench in most of the Cu dissolved at temperatures of 600 °C and below. This result suggests that the TID technique could be an excellent means to detect copper contamination inp-type silicon. The expected detection limit, on the order of1011 cm−3,makes the method a potentially interesting tool to use in gettering or in-diffusion barrier studies. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.