ADEX Ade

ADE Corporation (Nasdaq: ADEX) today announced that the leading expert in wafer polishing, Peter Wolters AG, has purchased and installed a WaferSight(TM) advanced wafer geometry system at its R&D laboratory in Germany. WaferSight provides high resolution mapping of wafer shape, flatness, thickness and edge roll-off variations based on ADE's proprietary optical laser interferometry. The sub-nanometer site flatness measurement precision offers better control of the polishing process, and supports the ITRS roadmap requirements at and beyond the 35nm technology node. "The high precision surface mapping capabilities of the WaferSight, with integrated edge roll-off analysis, have allowed us to extend the results of our advanced polishing systems," stated Peter Wolters R&D Director Dr. Georg Moersch. "WaferSight helps us to have a better eye on tool performance for double-sided polishing, our AC line, and is even more important for the haze-free polishing feature of our newly developed HFP300 system. Within a short period of time, we have been able to identify and correct several process-specific signatures thereby further improving polished wafer quality. WaferSight is a valuable tool as we develop our equipment and processes for the 35nm technology node in order to maintain our leading position in this highly competitive market." ADE's WaferSight offers low cost of ownership dimensional metrology for wafer suppliers, incoming quality control and semiconductor equipment manufacturers' R&D applications. In addition to industry standard wafer thickness, flatness, bow and warp measurements, the WaferSight system simultaneously measures and reports wafer edge roll-off (ERO), a critical component of lithography yield and CMP uniformity and process control. Production-proven WaferSight systems are available for both 300mm and advanced 200mm applications with non-contaminating edge-grip wafer handling. About Peter Wolters AG Peter Wolters AG, the dominant worldwide supplier of double side and haze free silicon wafer polishing equipment, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Novellus. To learn more about Peter Wolters, visit the company's web site at http://www.peter-wolters.com. 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.