Patent ID: 8581220

Claim:
A target supply apparatus comprising: a tank for storing a liquid target material; a nozzle for outputting the liquid target material in the tank; and a gas supply source for supplying gas into the tank, the target supply apparatus controlling a gas pressure inside the tank with a pressure of the gas supplied from the gas supply source provided with a pressure regulator, and further comprising: a pressure-decrease gas passage of which one end is connected to the tank and the other end forms an exhaust port; a pressure-decrease valve provided in the pressure-decrease gas passage; a controller for controlling open/close of the pressure-decrease valve; a pressure-increase gas passage connecting between the gas supply source and the tank, the pressure regulator being provided in the pressure-increase gas passage; a pressure-increase valve provided in the pressure-increase gas passage between the pressure regulator and the tank; a gas passage connected at one end thereof to between the pressure regulator and the pressure-increase valve; a storage tank connected to the other end of the gas passage and having a large capacity as compared with the capacity of the tank; and a valve provided in the gas passage, wherein one end of the pressure-decrease gas passage is connected to the pressure-increase gas passage between the pressure-increase valve and the tank, the controller, when the target material is to be output from the nozzle, opens the pressure-increase valve and closes the pressure-decrease valve, to thereby increase the pressure inside the tank, and decreases the pressure inside the tank, when the target material is not to be output from the nozzle, by closing the pressure-increase valve and opening the pressure decrease valve, and the controller closes the pressure-increase valve and opens the valve, to thereby increase the pressure inside the storage tank, and when the pressure inside the tank is to be increased, opens the pressure-increase valve, to thereby increase the pressure inside the tank with a pressure increasing assist by the storage tank.