Patent ID: 8848166

Claim:
An immersion exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate with an exposure beam via an optical assembly and immersion liquid, the apparatus comprising: a liquid immersion member that is arranged to surround part of the optical assembly to supply the immersion liquid to below the optical assembly and to recover the immersion liquid from below the optical assembly; first and second stages, each of which is configured to hold a substrate and each of which is positionable below the optical assembly; a movable member that is independently movable relative to the first and second stages and away from below the optical assembly; a drive system arranged to drive the first stage, the second stage and the movable member; and a control system configured to control the drive system to arrange the movable member to face the optical assembly in a process in which one of the first and second stages, which is arranged facing the optical assembly, is replaced with the other of the first and second stages to substantially maintain the immersion liquid below the optical assembly while the first and second substrate stages are away from below the optical assembly, wherein, for the process, the control system controls the drive system to move the movable member and the one stage in a horizontal direction while a side surface of the movable member and a side surface of the one stage are positioned adjacent to each other and a surface of the movable member and a surface of the one stage are arranged in juxtaposition to each other in the horizontal direction.