Stage device, pattern formation apparatus, exposure apparatus, stage drive method, exposure method, and device manufacturing method

A stage device, comprising:

• a coarse/fine movement stage including a coarse movement stage that moves along a predetermined plane and a fine movement stage that is finely movable on the coarse movement stage;
• and
• a measurement device that has an encoder head arranged on the coarse movement stage, and measures positional information of the fine movement stage in a predetermined direction by irradiating a first grating section placed external to the coarse/fine movement stage so as to be substantially parallel to the predetermined plane and a second grating section placed on the fine movement stage and positioned to a first grating side of the encoder head with a first measurement beam and a second measurement beam from the encoder head, respectively, and receiving diffracted lights from the first and second grating sections.

A stage drive method of driving a coarse/fine movement stage that has a coarse movement stage that moves along a predetermined plane and a fine movement stage that is finely movable on the coarse movement stage, the method comprising:

• measuring positional information of the fine movement stage in a predetermined direction, based on first positional information obtained from an output of an encoder head arranged on the coarse movement stage that irradiates a first grating section placed external to the coarse/fine movement stage so as to be substantially parallel to the predetermined plane with a first measurement beam and receives a diffracted light from the first grating section, and on second positional information that is relative positional information between the coarse movement stage and the fine movement stage,
• wherein, in the measuring, the second positional information between the coarse movement stage and the fine movement stage is acquired with the encoder head.

A stage drive method of driving a coarse/fine movement stage that has a coarse movement stage that moves along a predetermined plane and a fine movement stage that is finely movable on the coarse movement stage, the method comprising:

• measuring positional information of the fine movement stage in a predetermined direction, based on an output of an encoder head arranged on the coarse movement stage that irradiates a first grating section placed external to the coarse/fine movement stage so as to be substantially parallel to the predetermined plane and a second grating section placed on the fine movement stage and positioned to a first grating side of the encoder head with a first measurement beam and a second measurement beam from the encoder head, respectively, and receives diffracted lights from the first and second grating sections.