The Resettable Latching MEMS Temperature Sensor provides the capability of
recording external temperature extremes without consuming electrical
power. The device incorporates a thermal bimorph, contacts, latches, and
actuators for device reset. The device can be designed, hardwired, or
programmed to trigger at various temperature levels. The device can be
fabricated in a simple micromachining process that allows its size to be
miniaturized for embedded and portable applications. During operation,
the device consumes no quiescent power. The device can be configured to
close a circuit, switch an interrupt signal, or switch some other
electrical trigger signal between devices at the time of a temperature
extreme being reached, or it can be configured to latch and be polled at
some time after the temperature limit has occurred.