Supporting system in exposure apparatus

A supporting system, comprising:

• a carrying member for carrying a workpiece thereon;
• and
• a supporting mechanism for supporting said carrying member between a workpiece transfer position and a workpiece processing position, said supporting mechanism having a spring element and a plurality of magnet elements,
• wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, the weight of said carrying member and a combined force of a force produced by said spring element and a force produced by said plurality of magnet elements are approximately equal to each other, and
• wherein a clearance between said plurality of magnet elements when said carrying member is present at the transfer position is smaller than the clearance when said carrying member is present at the workpiece processing position, wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said plurality of magnet elements with respect to a change in the clearance, is set smaller than an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said spring element with respect to a change in the clearance.

A supporting system, comprising:

• a carrying member for carrying a workpiece thereon;
• and
• a supporting mechanism for supporting said carrying member between a workpiece transfer position and a workpiece processing position, said supporting mechanism having a spring element and a plurality of magnet elements,
• wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, the weight of said carrying member and a combined force of a force produced by said spring element and a force produced by said plurality of magnet elements are approximately equal to each other, and
• wherein a clearance between said plurality of magnet elements when said carrying member is present at the transfer position is larger than the clearance when said carrying member is present at the workpiece processing position, wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said plurality of magnet elements with respect to a change in the clearance, is set larger than an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said spring element with respect to a change in the clearance.

A supporting system, comprising:

• a carrying member for carrying a workpiece thereon;
• and
• a supporting mechanism for supporting said carrying member between a workpiece transfer position and a workpiece processing position, said supporting mechanism having a spring element and a plurality of magnet elements,
• wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said plurality of magnet elements with respect to a change in the clearance of the magnet elements is set smaller than an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said spring element with respect to a change in the clearance.

A supporting system, comprising:

• a carrying member for carrying a workpiece thereon;
• and
• a supporting mechanism for supporting said carrying member between a workpiece transfer position and a workpiece processing position, said supporting mechanism having a spring element and a plurality of magnet elements,
• wherein, adjacent to the workpiece processing position, an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said plurality of magnet elements with respect to a change in the clearance of the magnet elements is set larger than an absolute value of a changing rate of the force produced by said spring element with respect to a change in the clearance.

A supporting system, comprising:

• a carrying member for carrying a workpiece thereon;
• and
• a supporting mechanism for supporting said carrying member between a workpiece transfer position and a workpiece processing position,
• wherein, when said carrying member is present adjacent to the workpiece transfer position and when said carrying member is present adjacent to the workpiece processing position, the weight of said carrying member and a force to be applied from said supporting mechanism to said carrying member are substantially balanced, and wherein said supporting mechanism has a first element for producing a resisting force to a shift in a supporting direction of said carrying member, and a second element for producing a force for increasing the shift in the supporting direction.