The Project SWIFT fabrication line was based on sectors, as shown in this patent diagram of the system from 1973. Each sector contained in an enclosure all of the wafer-processing equipment needed to accomplish a segment of the fabrication process between lithographic-pattern exposures. IBM/U.S. Patent and Trademark Office In 1970, Bill Harding envisioned a fully automated wafer-fabrication line that would produce integrated circuits in less than one day. Not only was such a goal gutsy 54 years ...