A system and method for verifying the performance and health of instruments and processes. Embodiments include forming a gate hard mask over gates, forming bidirectional trenches overlying portions of the gate electrodes and active silicon regions, etching the hard mask layer to expose regions of the gate electrodes that are to connect to local interconnects, and filling the trenches with conductive material to form self-aligned local interconnects. A semiconductor contact structure is described. An apparatus is further claimed for detecting permeate conductivity at multiple points within the permeate collection tube of a spiral wound module. At least a portion of the stiffening member is transparent to allow the soap to be viewed.