TEMPERATURE CONDITIONING SYSTEM, A LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND A METHOD OF TEMPERATURE CONDITIONING AN OBJECT

摘要

It is an object of the invention to provide a thermal conditioning system tor an object to be thermally conditioned, in particular a thermal conditioning system using a conditioning liquid, wherein flow induced vibrations within the object caused by pressure fluctuations in the flaw of conditioning liquid may be substantially reduced. It is a further object of the invention to provide such thermal conditioning system for use in a lithographic apparatus and a method of temperature conditioning an object using conditioning liquid in a temperature conditioning system. According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a temperature conditioning system using conditioning liquid to condition a temperature of an object, comprising:a conditioning conduit to guide conditioning liquid through or along the object, the conditioning conduit comprising a conditioning conduit inlet and a conditioning conduit outlet.a return conduit having a return conduit inlet and a return conduit outlet,a supply chamber having a supply chamber inlet connected to the return conduit outlet and a supply chamber outlet connected to the conditioning conduit inlet, and a discharge chamber having a discharge chamber inlet connected to the conditioning conduit outlet and a discharge chamber outlet connected to the return conduit inlet,wherein the temperature conditioning system is arranged to provide a static pressure difference between the supply chamber outlet and the discharge chamber inlet to create a flow through the conditioning conduit.In an embodiment of the previous aspect of the invention, a first pressure in the supply chamber and a second pressure in the discharge chamber are held at a sub-atmospheric pressure level.According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a lithographic apparatus comprising a temperature conditioning system using conditioning liquid to condition n temperature of an object, wherein the object is a part of the lithographic apparatus.According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of temperature conditioning an object using conditioning liquid in a temperature conditioning system, the temperature conditioning system comprising:a conditioning conduit to guide conditioning liquid through or along the object, the conditioning conduit comprising a conditioning conduit inlet and a conditioning conduit outlet,a return conduit having a return conduit inlet and a return conduit outlet,a supply chamber having a supply chamber inlet connected to the return conduit outlet and a supply chamber outlet connected to the conditioning conduit inlet, and a discharge chamber having a discharge chamber inlet connected to the conditioning conduit outlet and a discharge chamber outlet connected to the return conduit inlet.wherein the method comprises providing a static pressure difference between the supply chamber outlet and the discharge chamber inlet to create a flow through the conditioning conduit.