Patent ID: 8045136

Claim:
A lithographic projection apparatus, comprising: a substrate table that holds a substrate; a projection system that projects a patterned beam of radiation onto the substrate held by the substrate table; a liquid confinement structure that confines a liquid in a space between the projection system and the substrate, the substrate table, or both, and that forms a part of a boundary of the space; a closing plate that forms a part of the boundary of the space in place of the substrate, the substrate table, or both; and a drive system that independently moves the substrate table and the closing plate, wherein the closing plate has a measurement member on which a beam of radiation is irradiated via the projection system and the liquid, and the drive system moves the substrate table and the closing plate in a horizontal plane while the substrate table and the closing plate are close together or in contact, to form a part of the boundary of the space using the closing plate in place of the substrate, the substrate table or both, or to form a part of the boundary of the space using the substrate, the substrate table or both in place of the closing plate.