An exposure apparatus has an illumination system for transferring a reticle pattern formed on a reticle as a master onto a wafer as a photosensitive member by a laser source, a stop for setting an illumination region by the laser source, and a mechanism for synchronously scanning the reticle and wafer in predetermined scanning directions. Exposure processing by synchronous scanning of the reticle and wafer and relative movement of the wafer in a direction crossing the scanning direction are repeated, thereby forming a transfer pattern with connected exposure regions on the wafer. The stop driving mechanism performs exposure while driving a vane of the stop for setting the illumination region in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in the direction crossing the scanning direction during the exposure processing.