Abstract: Provided herein are heat moisture exchanger (HME) systems and sleep study systems for performing sleep studies of patients with tracheostomy tubes. The HME systems provided herein may include a monitoring tube to enable performance of sleep studies of patients with tracheostomies. The HME systems provided herein may include a housing assembly that defines a central cavity which is in fluid communication with a tracheostomy port for coupling to a hub of a tracheostomy tube of a patient. The HME systems provided herein may also include an HME filter that is positioned within the housing assembly between an inhalation/exhalation opening and the central cavity. The monitoring tube extends from outside of the housing assembly into the housing assembly and may be connected to a respiration monitoring device for detecting respiration parameters of the patient during the sleep study. Methods for performing sleep studies are also provided herein.

Abstract: For enhanced resistance to electromigration failure, a thin metal film interconnect on an integrated circuit chip should use multiple parallel minimum-width lines when the minimum linewidth is less than one and one-half times the mean grain size of the metal film. When the interconnect is longer than a certain predetermined length, then the multiple lines of the interconnect should have intermediate interconnections or bridges between neighboring ones of the multiple lines. When the interconnect is many times longer than the predetermined length, then the bridges define slots between the neighboring lines, and the slots should have a length of about the predetermined length. When the interconnect is many times longer than the predetermined length and the interconnect has more than two parallel lines, then the slots on one side of a parallel line should be staggered or offset with respect to the slots on the other side of the parallel line.