Patent ID: 8125610

Claim:
A method for preventing or reducing contamination of an immersion projection apparatus, the apparatus comprising at least one immersion space that is at least partially filled with an immersion liquid when the apparatus projects a beam of radiation onto a substrate to be illuminated, the immersion space extending at least between at least part of a bare substrate, a bare dummy substrate, a substrate-shaped object or a substrate holder on one side, and a projection system on an opposite side, the method comprising: placing the bare substrate, the bare dummy substrate, or the substrate-shaped object on the substrate holder; rinsing at least part of the immersion space with a rinsing liquid before the apparatus is used to project the beam of radiation onto the substrate to be illuminated to prevent or reduce contamination of the immersion projection apparatus, and replacing the bare substrate, the bare dummy substrate, or the substrate-shaped object with the substrate to be illuminated by the projected beam of radiation of the projection system after the rinsing has been completed, wherein the rinsing includes moving the substrate holder with respect to said projection system such that the position of the immersion space changes with respect to the substrate holder during the rinsing in order to rinse at least part of a surface of the substrate holder surrounding the bare substrate, the bare dummy substrate, or the substrate-shaped object and at least one component that is located on the surface of the substrate holder surrounding the bare substrate, the bare dummy substrate, or the substrate-shaped object using the rinsing liquid, the at least one component being selected from the group consisting of: an edge seal member, a sensor, a positioning device, and a mirror element.