Patent ID: 8922748

Claim:
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate with an illumination beam via an optical system and liquid, comprising: first and second stages that each have an upper surface on a part of which a holding portion for the substrate is provided; a local liquid immersion system that has a liquid confinement member, which is disposed at a lower end portion of the optical system, to form a liquid immersion region below the optical system, and that supplies liquid via the liquid confinement member and collects liquid from the liquid immersion region via the liquid confinement member; a detection system that detects positional information of the substrate, the detection system being disposed in a second area that is different from a first area, the optical system being disposed in the first area within a predetermined plane that is orthogonal to an optical axis of the optical system; a drive system that has a motor coupled to the first and second stages, and that is capable of moving the first and second stages so that one of the first and second stages is disposed facing the liquid confinement member and is moved from one area to another area of the first and second areas, wherein the drive system executes a relative movement between the first and second stages, one stage of which is disposed facing the liquid confinement member, so that the first and second stages come close to each other in a first direction within the predetermined plane and that the first and second stages are at different positions in a second direction, which is orthogonal to the first direction within the predetermined plane, and wherein the drive system moves the first and second stages relative to the liquid confinement member, in a state in which the first and second stages close to each other in the first direction and in which positions of the first and second stages are shifted from each other in the second direction, so that another stage of the first and second stages is to be replaced with the one stage so as to be disposed facing the liquid confinement member.