Patent ID: 9298108
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: G03F,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate with an exposure beam via a projection optical system and a liquid, the apparatus comprising: a holding member that holds the projection optical system; a detection device provided at the holding member, away from the projection optical system; a local liquid immersion system that has a nozzle member provided in proximity to a lens, and forms a liquid immersion area under the projection optical system with a liquid supplied via the nozzle member and also recovers the liquid of the liquid immersion area via the nozzle member, the lens being placed on a most-image-plane side of a plurality of optical elements of the projection optical system; a base placed below the projection optical system and the detection device; a stage that is placed on the base and holds the substrate in a depressed section of an upper surface of the stage, the upper surface being capable of coming into contact with the liquid immersion area; a drive system that has a motor and moves the stage, a part of the motor being provided at the stage; a carrier system that has a pre-alignment device of the substrate and carries a substrate to which pre-alignment has been performed by the pre-alignment device to above the stage placed at an exchange position of the substrate, the exchange position being away from the projection optical system; and a controller that controls at least one of the stage and the carrier system based on positional information of the depressed section obtained by the detection device, in order to load the substrate on the stage so that the substrate carried to above the stage by the carrier system is mounted in the depressed section, wherein the substrate is mounted in the depressed section so that a gap is formed between a surface of the substrate and the upper surface of the stage, and the stage is moved, so that the substrate mounted in the depressed section moves relative to the liquid immersion area formed between the projection optical system and a part of the substrate and also the liquid immersion area traverses the gap.