Abstract: A conveying arm for conveying a substrate while holding it with suction pads has, on the side of the conveying arm from which the suction pads extend, elastic members, such as flat springs, which are shorter than the suction pads. The flat springs are located above the tip ends of the suction pads when they hold the substrate and when the substrate is lowered to the work stage, the flat springs press any bent portions of the substrate down toward the work stage, which leads to flattening of surface of the substrate against the work stage so as to eliminate leakage of vacuum, used for suctioning the substrate against the work stage, from peripheral portions of the substrate. As a result, the substrate can be securely held on the work stage.

Abstract: To provide a cross-flow fan that is ideal for use in an excimer laser device or fluoride laser device that is capable of high-speed rotation, that has high mechanical strength even at high-speed rotation and that does not suffer deformation, a rotating shaft is mounted passing through the center of cross-flow fan for a discharge excitation gas laser device. Use of the rotating shaft facilitates alignment of the rotating shaft and high-speed rotation is possible because the mechanical strength is raised. Furthermore, magnetic bearings can be used since misalignment does not develop. The flow velocity is not adversely affected even if a rotating shaft, as noted above, is utilized since a cross-flow fan for gas circulation in an excimer laser device is used under high-head, low-flow velocity conditions.

Abstract: A cooling arrangement of a heating device of the light irradiation type in which, even when the wafer is heated to a high temperature of roughly 800 to 1200° C.

Abstract: To effect exposure of the peripheral area of a wafer to remove an unnecessary resist with a step shape in a development process with high precision and ease, even if the position has errors, in which a circuit pattern is formed on a semiconductor wafer in a preceding process, according to the invention, before exposing the unnecessary resist on a wafer outside of the area on which a pattern is formed, the position of a singular shaped area, such as an "orientation flat" or the like is determined by a unit for determining the peripheral edge area of the wafer, and the rotating carrier is driven and the wafer is rotated until the singular shaped area is positioned in a predetermined position. Furthermore, according to the invention, a unit for determining the alignment marks computes and stores the positions of predetermined alignment marks, by which positional errors in the location in which the circuit pattern is formed are corrected.