Patent ID: 7361910

Claim:
A movable stage apparatus comprising a reticle stage on which a reflecting reticle is to be mounted, wherein when a space is divided by a plane including a reflection surface of the reticle, a guide surface to guide movement of the master reticle stage is arranged in a space opposite to a space where an exposure light beam to be reflected by the reticle passes, wherein said reticle stage comprises a coarse movement stage which reciprocally moves on the guide surface formed on a base of the movable stage apparatus in a scanning direction along said guide surface in non-contact with said coarse movement stage and having a six-axis alignment mechanism, wherein the reflection surface of the reticle is arranged to face vertically downward, and said fine movement stage is supported in non-contact with said coarse movement stage and is positioned in six-axis directions by a six-axis alignment mechanism which can perform position control of said coarse movement stage in six-axis alignments, and by a self weight support mechanism which supports a weight of said fine movement stage, and wherein said six-axis alignment mechanism does not perform position control of said fine movement stage, said fine movement stage is urged against said coarse movement stage by the magnetic force, and abuts against an alignment section arranged on said coarse movement stage, so that a position and a posture of said fine movement stage are regulated.