A stage device is equipped with a surface plate and a wafer stage which is mounted on the surface plate and has an exhausting port formed on a surface facing the surface plate. In a state where the wafer stage lands on the surface plate, an air chamber is formed in between the surface plate and the wafer stage. Pressurized gas blows out from the exhausting port provided at a stage main section into the air chamber, and self-weight of the wafer stage is cancelled by an inner pressure of the air chamber. This allows to the wafer stage which has stopped on the surface plate to be moved manually.

The disclosure relates to a bearing assembly for a lithography system, having an optical element, a base, and a bearing device that moveably supports the optical element relative to the base. The bearing device has at least one torsion decoupling element that reduces a transmission of torsional moments between the optical element and the base. The torsion decoupling element has at least two leaf springs which have respective opposing narrow sides and which bring about torsional moments about an axis perpendicular to the narrow sides. The at least two leaf springs are also positioned at an angle to one another and are coupled to one another in such a way that a force flow through the torsion decoupling element simultaneously flows through the at least two leaf springs.

Provided are an exposure apparatus and a prevention method and system for image offset of the exposure apparatus. The dust cover which is made of transparent material and arranged and arranged at one end of the bearing connected to the lifter enables to check whether the bearing is abraded via manual vision or machine vision, thereby enhancing the yield of the glass substrates achieved by photoetching in the photo process and thus improving the production efficiency of the photo process.

A thermal conditioning unit to thermally condition a substrate in a lithographic apparatus, the thermal conditioning unit including: a thermal conditioning element having a first layer, in use, facing the substrate and including a material having a thermal conductivity of 100 W/mK or more, a second layer and a heat transfer component positioned between the first and second layers; and a stiffening member which is stiffer than the thermal conditioning element and configured to support the thermal conditioning element so as to reduce mechanical deformation thereof, wherein the thermal conditioning element is thermally isolated from the stiffening member.

An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate with illumination light via a liquid. A liquid immersion member of the exposure apparatus has a lower surface, a plurality of collection ports, and a plurality of supply ports. The lower surface has an opening through which illumination light passes. The collection ports are arranged at the lower surface to surround the opening, and the supply ports are arranged at the lower surface and between the opening and the collection ports to surround the opening, such that the liquid is supplied via the supply ports onto the substrate while the substrate is arranged opposite to a plane-convex lens of a projection optical system and such that the liquid is collected via the collection ports from the substrate.

The disclosure pertains to an optical apparatus, in particular for microlithography, that includes an optical module, a support structure and a connection apparatus. The connection apparatus includes at least one connection unit which includes a first connector part and a second connector part. The first connector part is connected to the optical module, and the second connector part is connected to the support structure.

A stage device is equipped with a surface plate and a wafer stage which is mounted on the surface plate and has an exhausting port formed on a surface facing the surface plate. In a state where the wafer stage lands on the surface plate, an air chamber is formed in between the surface plate and the wafer stage. Pressurized gas blows out from the exhausting port provided at a stage main section into the air chamber, and self-weight of the wafer stage is cancelled by an inner pressure of the air chamber. This allows to the wafer stage which has stopped on the surface plate to be moved manually.

The invention provides a vibration isolation device configured to support a structure, comprising: an air mount having a base part mounted on a reference structure and a vibration isolated part, and an inverted pendulum device, wherein a lower end of the inverted pendulum device is mounted on the vibration isolated part of the air mount and an upper end of the inverted pendulum device support the structure to be supported, wherein the vibration isolation device comprises a stiffness adjustment device configured to adjust the stiffness of the inverted pendulum device.

An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate with illumination light via a liquid. A liquid immersion member of the exposure apparatus has a lower surface, a plurality of collection ports, and a plurality of supply ports. The lower surface has an opening through which illumination light passes. The collection ports are arranged at the lower surface to surround the opening, and the supply ports are arranged at the lower surface and between the opening and the collection ports to surround the opening, such that the liquid is supplied via the supply ports onto the substrate while the substrate is arranged opposite to a plane-convex lens of a projection optical system and such that the liquid is collected via the collection ports from the substrate.

The disclose provides a magnetic levitation gravity compensation device, including: a first permanent magnet, which is cylindrical; a second permanent magnet, which is cylindrical, arranged in the first permanent magnet and radially spaced from the first permanent magnet; and at least one end permanent magnet, which is cylindrical, and is located on at least one of two axial ends of the second permanent magnet and axially spaced from the two axial ends of the second permanent magnet, a center line of the end permanent magnet is configured to coincide with a center line of the second permanent magnet, and a cylinder wall thickness of the end permanent magnet is smaller than that of the second permanent magnet, wherein a magnetization direction of the first permanent magnet is a radial direction, and a magnetization direction of the second permanent magnet and the end permanent magnet is an axial direction.