Support unit, optical unit and exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

Abstract

Exposure light can pass through a partition wall parallel plate via the opening of the second wall and the opening of the first wall, the first opposing surface of the first wall and the second opposing surface of the second wall respectively oppose one surface and the other surface of the partition wall parallel plate via the first clearance and the second clearance, and the partition wall parallel plate is supported at least at three points such that the third opposing surface of the third wall opposes the entire peripheral surface of the partition wall parallel plate. Further, the third clearance is connected to an exhaust route. Specifically, unnecessary stress is not applied to the partition wall parallel plate, and even if gas tries to flow from space on one side of the partition wall parallel plate into the other space, mixing of gases between two spaces can be effectively suppressed because gas in the third clearance is forcibly exhausted outside via the exhaust route.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.