A hermetically sealed device comprising a spacing unit and a resistive heating element desirably having a closed-loop structure and process for hermetically sealing a device by using such heating element and spacing unit. In response to a fault, power distribution in channels on recovering digital line segments is adjusted to minimize a merit function based on one or more system parameters. Illumination may be delivered to specific locations of a specimen holder, and returned illumination may be delivered to specific locations of a sensor array. A first metal layer is formed on the metal substrate and is conformal with the metal substrate. The transition adjustment circuit is operable to modify an occurrence of a transition from one logic state to another logic state within the equalization pattern on a sub-equalization data clock basis.