US Patent 7266988 Resettable latching MEMS shock sensor apparatus and method

The Resettable Latching MEMS Shock Sensor provides the capability of recording external shock extremes without consuming electrical power. The device incorporates a shock sensitive suspended proof mass, spring-loaded contacts, latches, and actuators for device reset. The device can be designed, hardwired, or programmed to trigger at various shock 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 shock extreme being reached, or it can be configured to latch and be polled at some time after the shock limit has occurred.