INERT GAS PURGE METHOD AND APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, RETICLE STOCKER, RETICLE INSPECTION APPARATUS, RETICLE TRANSFER BOX, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD

摘要

An object of the present invention, the furnace in an exposure apparatus for irradiating the inside of the use of ultraviolet light as the exposure light, and the device via a purge, and projecting a pattern of an original optical system by an inert gas to a photosensitive substrate, by almost circular plate and the pellicle film an enclosed space, to provide a technique for effectively purged by an inert gas. In order to achieve the above object, it forms a plurality of vent holes in the structure obtained by surrounding by surrounding the gas purge volume to be purged with an inert gas member. By filling an inert gas into a container to form a space around the structure and breaking the inert gas into the gas purge volume, the purge gas to purge the space with an inert gas.