ADE Phase Shift Announces Multiple Orders and Installations From Leading Silicon Wafer Suppliers.

Business/Technology Editors

TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000

ADE Phase Shift, a wholly owned subsidiary of ADE Corporation, (NASDAQ:ADEX) announces the receipt of multiple orders and completed installations from leading wafer fabrication companies for its nanotopography metrology system.

ADE's strategy to provide state of the art products supporting emerging technologies such as CMP was exemplified by delivery of the first products in the Company's new NanoMapper product line. In September, the NanoMapper product received R&D magazine's prestigious "R&D 100" award as one of the year's most significant inventions, underscoring ADE's key competitive advantage: world-class products embodying cutting edge technology and a track record of industry-leading innovation.

Major silicon manufactures have placed multiple orders for the NanoMapper automated measurement and test system, which optically inspects and sorts polished 200mm and 300mm silicon wafers at throughputs of over 60 wafers per hour. Nanotopography measurements maximize device yield by determining small-area variations in wafer flatness, typically in the range of 20 to 100 nanometers in height.

VLSI Research's November 17, 2000, issue of "The Chip Insider" wrote, "Historically, topographic variations have been measured across the entire wafer, but devices are running into yield issues due to small variations in wafer flatness. Nanotopography is the measurement of wafer flatness over small areas (typically 0.5 to 2.0mm) to nanometer variations. The leading supplier of these tools is ADE. Chipmakers are finding that good wafers can easily have ten to twenty nanometers of peak to trough variation in surface flatness. Since the inter-spacing of silicon atoms is 0.4 nanometers, this variation is only 25 to 50 atoms of thickness. But it is enough to affect speed sorts on high-end devices that use a combination of STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) and CMP. The biggest reason for nanotopography is to control gate oxide thickness."

ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of metrology and inspection systems for the silicon wafer and data storage industries. The Company's systems analyze and report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps and provide quality certification data that is relied upon by semiconductor and data storage manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. To learn more about ADE, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.ade.com.

ADE Phase Shift is a worldwide leader in metrology tools for the optical fabrication, data storage, semiconductor and research markets. Manufacturing and engineering facilities are located in Arizona. Global sales and service offices are located throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. ADE Phase Shift is a wholly owned subsidiary of ADE Corporation Additional information on ADE Phase Shift can be found at http://www.phase-shift.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with the strength of the semiconductor and hard disk markets, wafer pricing and wafer demand, the results of its product development efforts, the success of ADE's product offerings to meet customer needs within the timeframes required by customers in these markets, further increases in backlog, our visibility, and the Companies predictions of future financial outcomes. Further information on potential factors that could affect ADE Corporation's business is described in the each company's reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2000.