Patent ID: 7659966

Claim:
An exposure apparatus for performing exposure of a substrate to light via a reticle, the apparatus comprising: a first stage configured to hold a chuck, the chuck having a support base with an electrode, the chuck being configured to form a container, for the reticle, together with a cover, the container being configured to electrostatically chuck the reticle on the support base by the electrode; a transporter configured to transport the container in which the reticle is contained, and to load the chuck, which chucks the reticle, on the first stage without the cover; and a second stage configured to hold the other of the substrate, wherein the apparatus is configured to obtain a first positional shift amount between the chuck and the reticle chucked on the chuck before the transportation by the transporter, to measure a second positional shift amount between a reference mark on the chuck held by the first stage and a reference mark on the second stage, and to correct positions of the first and second stages based on the first and second positional shift amounts, to perform the exposure.