Patent ID: 8891059

Claim:
A liquid recovery system that is used by a liquid immersion exposure apparatus in which an exposure light is projected onto a substrate by a projection optical system, the liquid recovery system comprising: a member that surrounds a final optical element of the projection optical system, the member disposed above the substrate and including an aperture through which the exposure light is projected from the final optical element onto the substrate during exposure of the substrate; a first opening that is different from the aperture and that is disposed in a lower surface of the member which directly faces the substrate during the exposure operation, the first opening surrounding the aperture of the member; a space within the member higher than the first opening and into which a liquid on an object that directly opposes the first opening flows after the liquid passes through the first opening; a liquid removal outlet that communicates with the space and that suctions at least part of the liquid in the space into a flow channel of the member, the liquid removal outlet located higher than the first opening and the substrate, the liquid removal outlet not directly opposing the substrate, and the liquid removal outlet configured to limit a gas in the space from being sucked into the flow channel through the liquid removal outlet; and a second opening that communicates with the space and through which the gas in the space flows from the space, the second opening being different from the first opening and the second opening being disposed higher than the liquid removal outlet.