ADE Receives Largest Single Order for 300mm Wafer Systems.

WESTWOOD, Mass. -- New Order Sets an ADE Bookings Record for the Third Time in Past Twelve Months

ADE Corporation (NASDAQ: ADEX), announced today that a leading silicon wafer supplier has placed a large multi-million-dollar order for wafer geometry systems to support its next phase of 300mm production capacity expansion. This represents the third record-setting order announced by ADE during the past year. The order includes multiple WaferSight(TM) wafer flatness and NanoMapper(R) nanotopography systems for qualification and certification of critical wafer geometry parameters. These systems are expected to be installed during ADE's current fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2005.

"This order further announces the strength of the 300mm wafer capacity expansion and the continued worldwide investment to support leading edge silicon production," stated Dr. Chris L. Koliopoulos, president and chief executive officer of ADE Corporation. "The precision and capability of these wafer geometry systems enable our customers to meet the stringent metrology and process control requirements for today's and tomorrow's advanced wafer production. Wafer variations on the nanometer level can affect chip quality using today's advanced semiconductor processes, ultimately impacting value. These tools offer our customers better "eyes" on their process, which they can leverage to yield improved quality of their final wafer products."

"This order, which tops our two previous record contracts, demonstrates the continued strength of ADE's silicon wafer market position and product offerings worldwide," added Brian James, executive vice president and chief financial officer of ADE Corporation. "It also underscores our ability to achieve continued momentum going into the second half of our fiscal year."

According to a recent report by VLSI Research, annual worldwide 300mm silicon wafer demand is forecasted to grow 106% in 2004 and 67% in 2005, with a compound annual growth rate of 39.5% from 2004 to 2009.

The WaferSight wafer flatness system uses laser interferometry to achieve sub-nanometer precision and stability of wafer dimensional parameters. Used in production, WaferSight enables silicon manufacturers better wafer dimensional control to support increased yields of fine-line geometry devices at leading-edge semiconductor fabs. The advanced WaferSight performance, with capabilities beyond the 45nm technology node, also enables next-generation wafer development and production.

NanoMapper systems are being used globally to assure incoming material quality for microprocessors, ASIC and DRAM chip production. Using optical interferometry, NanoMapper measures nanometer-scale wafer surface topography, called nanotopography, which is a fingerprint of the wafer manufacturing process. By specifying lower nanotopography limits on incoming wafers, advanced device manufacturers can reduce costs on front-end-of-line processes, such as shallow trench isolation and polysilicon gate electrode CD control, increasing binning yields.

About ADE Corporation

ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of metrology and inspection systems required for production in the silicon wafer, semiconductor device, magnetic data storage and optics manufacturing industries. The Company's systems analyze and report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps for yield enhancement, providing quality certification data that is relied upon by semiconductor wafer, device and computer disk manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used for production measurements in the semiconductor chip fabrication process. To learn more about ADE, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.ade.com.

Safe Harbor 

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. Those statements that make reference to the Company's expectations, predictions, beliefs, assumptions and anticipations should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, those associated with the shipment of product to the aforementioned silicon wafer supplier, the effect of ADE products on customer product quality and production rates, and expected 300mm silicon wafer demand. These statements involve risks and uncertainties including those associated with wafer pricing and wafer demand; the results of its product development efforts; and the success of ADE's product offerings to meet customer needs within the timeframes required by customers in these markets. Further information on potential factors

that could affect ADE Corporation's business is described in the Company's reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2004.