Coolant conduit and wafer-cooling apparatus including the same

A cooling apparatus, comprising:

• a chamber having an accommodation space;
• a coolant inlet disposed to be in fluid communication with the accommodation space;
• a wafer boat disposed in the accommodation space;
• and
• a coolant conduit disposed in the chamber and including:
• at least one tubular wall disposed outwardly and radially from the wafer boat, and including an inner wall surface and an outer wall surface opposite to each other in radial directions, the inner wall surface surrounding a tubular axis and defining a passage extending upwardly to terminate at an upper end surface formed with an opening that is in fluid communication with the coolant inlet;
• and
• at least one arcuate slit hole formed in the outer wall surface to confront the wafer boat and extending from the outer wall surface into the inner wall surface along a first radial line to be in fluid communication with the accommodation space, the at least one arcuate slit hole having a height and a width, a ratio of the width to the height being greater than 1.

A cooling apparatus, comprising:

• a chamber having an accommodation space extending in a direction of a central axis;
• a coolant inlet disposed to be in fluid communication with the accommodation space;
• a wafer boat disposed in the accommodation space to mount a plurality of wafers displaced from one another by a plurality of interval spaces along the central axis;
• and
• a plurality of coolant conduits disposed in the chamber and angularly spaced apart from one another, each of the plurality of coolant conduits including:
• at least one tubular wall disposed outwardly and radially from the wafer boat, and including an inner wall surface and an outer wall surface opposite to each other in radial directions, the inner wall surface surrounding a tubular axis and defining a passage extending upwardly to terminate at an upper end surface formed with an opening that is in fluid communication with the coolant inlet;
• and
• at least one arcuate slit hole formed in the outer wall surface to confront the wafer boat and extending from the outer wall surface into the inner wall surface along a first radial line to be in fluid communication with the accommodation space, the at least one arcuate slit hole extending along the tubular axis to terminate at an upper surface and a lower surface that define a height of the at least one arcuate slit hole, and extending about the tubular axis to terminate at a first side surface and a second side surface, the first side surface forming a first joining line with the inner wall surface, the second side surface forming a second joining line with the inner wall surface, the first joining line and the second joining line forming a chord line that is perpendicular to the first radial line and that defines a width of the at least one arcuate slit hole, a ratio of the width to the height being greater than 1.