Patent ID: 7345736

Claim:
A lithographic apparatus, comprising: (a) a processing unit configured to perform a lithographic process involving exchangeable objects, the processing unit comprising: an illumination system that conditions a beam of radiation; a support structure configured to support a patterning device that imparts a desired pattern to the beam of radiation; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate; and a projection system configured to project the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate; and (b) a track interface for exchanging exchangeable objects between a track and the processing unit, the track interface including a transfer unit configured to transfer a first exchangeable object from the track via a substrate track receiving unit to the processing unit and to transfer a second exchangeable object from the processing unit via a substrate track discharge station to the track, wherein the track interface includes the substrate track receiving unit and the substrate track discharge station, and wherein the substrate track receiving unit and the substrate track discharge station are mutually vertically stacked.