Patent ID: 7072027

Claim:
A scanning exposure apparatus for performing an exposure of each region of a substrate to light via a reticle while the substrate and the reticle are scanned, said apparatus comprising: a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the reticle onto the substrate; a stage configured to hold the substrate and to move in a direction of an optical axis of said projection optical system and in a scanning direction perpendicular to the optical axis; a surface position measurement system configured to measure a position of a surface of the substrate in the direction of the optical axis in response to a command; and a stage position measurement system, having a counter in which information of a plurality of positions of said stage in the scanning direction is preset with respect to each region, configured to measure a position of said stage in the scanning direction, and to generate the command if the measured position of said stage reaches each of the plurality of positions of which information is preset in said counter.