A solid-state device for the non-invasive generation and capture of thermal gradient spectra from sample tissue. The device may include: an analog-to-digital conversion unit to extract a soft symbol S= from the signal, the soft symbol including a first sample value S0 and a second sample value S1; and a digital processing unit to compute, for each of the N states, a branch metric value of BM\u20140_K in dependence on the soft symbol S, K being an index identifying the respective state. A cleaning device is provided and positioned to interact with the photomask substrate disposed on the support assembly. In each free spin, the gaming device provides the player with an award or awards for any award symbols or combinations of award symbols indicated on the reels. The bitcell may also be operated by CHEI and separately by BTBT depending upon the voltages applied at the source, drain, and capacitors.