ADE Announces the Shipment of 55nm Advanced Wafer Inspection System to SSi.

WESTWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1999--

ADE Corporation (NASDAQ:ADEX), today announced the shipment of a first of its kind wafer surface inspection system to Super Silicon Crystal Research Institute Corp. (SSi) of Japan. This fully edge-grip system is a version of ADE's patented AWIS (Advanced Wafer Inspection System) technology, capable of supporting 55nm sorting on wafer sizes of 200mm, 300mm and 400mm.

David Duncavage, ADE's Director of Engineering for Advanced Optical Products, stated "This project clearly demonstrates that ADE's AWIS technology is extensible to 0.13um design rules. SSi's requirements for fully automated edge-grip handling and 60nm sensitivity were made more challenging when presented with wafers the size of a small bicycle wheel. SSi's close communication and teamwork contributed greatly in the success of this project. ADE worked closely with SSi on the developments and advancements in the production process for this new wafer size and ADE is very pleased to have had the opportunity to support SSi by supplying metrology tools for this ground-breaking effort." ADE is also providing 400mm dimensional metrology tools based on the AFS (Advanced Flatness System) gage.

Mr.Takada, Director and General Manager of SSi stated, "We are very grateful to ADE that they developed the inspection tool on schedule. Concerning the minimum detection, we are very happy that the tool was able to support 55nm exceeding the initial specification of 60nm.

Because SSi is focusing on the 0.1 um pattern rule generation, improving the detection limit is indispensable. SSi, as one wafer maker, strongly would like ADE to continue the development of 40nm particle detection in the early stage."

Super Silicon Crystal Research Institute Corp. (SSi), is a consortium of the Japan Key Technology Center (Governmental organization) and is the sixth largest Japanese manufacturers of silicon wafers. In September of 1997, The Isobe Japan-based large diameter semiconductor wafer manufacturing technology company, placed an order for one each of ADE's advanced wafer metrology and surface inspection production systems.

ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of metrology and inspection systems for the silicon wafer and computer disk manufacturing industries. The Company's systems analyze and report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps for yield enhancement and provide quality certification data that is relied upon by semiconductor and computer disk manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used in the fabrication of integrated circuits.