Patent ID: 6946666

Claim:
An exposure apparatus which detects position information of an object to be exposed applied with a resist using a fine alignment system, aligns the object to be exposed using a signal from said fine alignment system, and forms a pattern by irradiating exposure radiation onto a surface of the object, said fine alignment system comprising: irradiation means for irradiating pumping light from an oblique direction onto an alignment mark formed on one of the object to be exposed and a substrate on which the object to be exposed is placed; a probe for interacting with a near field in the vicinity of the alignment mark; an optical detector for receiving near-field radiation present in the near field using said probe, wherein said optical detector is disposed at a position where the pumping light specularly reflected from the alignment mark is not received; control means for obtaining position information of the object to be exposed using a signal from said optical detector; and drive means for aligning the object to be exposed by driving the object on the basis of a signal from said control means, wherein the position information is position information of the object in a plane including the surface of the object or in a plane parallel to the surface.