Patent ID: 7498596

Claim:
An exposure method for exposing a pattern of a reticle onto a plate, via a projection optical system, while synchronously scanning the reticle and the plate, said exposure method comprising: a first measuring step of measuring a surface shape of the reticle; a determining step of determining an error measurement position based on a measuring result of said first measuring step; a second measuring step of remeasuring the surface shape of the reticle without measuring the error measurement position; and a controlling step of controlling synchronous scanning of the reticle and the plate based on a measuring result of said second measuring step, wherein said first measuring step includes: (i) a first substep for measuring a surface position of the reticle at plural measurement positions that are arranged in a scanning direction by scanning the reticle at a scan speed used for exposure; and (ii) a second substep for measuring the surface position of the reticle at positions that are shifted from the plural measurement positions in the scanning direction by an equal distance by scanning the reticle in a direction opposite to that of said first substep at the scan speed used for exposure.