An auto focus system includes a stage on which a substrate is mounted,
light sources that irradiate the substrate with a plurality of focus
beams directed towards the substrate at different angles, sensors that
detect the focus beams reflected from the substrate, and a controller
that determines the relative location of a surface of the substrate
according to the locations at which the focus beams are detected by the
sensors and positions the substrate accordingly. To this end, the
controller performs calculations that are free from the influence of
variations in the refractive index of the medium through which the focus
beams propagate to the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the autofocus
process is carried out with a high degree of precision.