Patent ID: 7733498

Claim:
An exposure apparatus comprising: an optical system support configured to support a projection optical system; a stage surface plate; a first stage and second stage which can move between a first area and second area on said stage surface plate; a first interferometer configured to measure stage position relative to said stage surface plate in the first area; a second interferometer configured to measure stage position relative to said stage surface plate in the second area; a third interferometer which is interposed between said first interferometer and said second interferometer and configured to measure stage position relative to said stage surface plate and to pass the measurement result obtained by one of said first interferometer and said second interferometer to the other one of said first interferometer and said second interferometer; a gap sensor configured to measure a gap between said optical system support and said stage surface plate; and a control unit configured to pass, when said first stage and said second stage swap by moving between the first area and the second area, the measurement result obtained by one of said first interferometer and said second interferometer to the other one of said first interferometer and said second interferometer using the measurement result obtained by said third interferometer, and to correct the passed measurement result based on the measurement result obtained by said gap sensor.