Thermal aware systems are able to control distributed CMOS blocks based on the local temperature to enhance system power, speed, and reliability. The ultimate objective is multiple in situ temperature sensors, close to the CMOS device layer, distributed over the die, physically small, and leaking almost zero power. Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) are able to provide this capability. An MTJ is a CMOS compatible device, fabricated within the metallic layers, above the CMOS device layers. A method for using an MTJ as a thermal sensor is presented. The method operates MTJs in an antiparallel state where an MTJ is more sensitive to thermal variations as compared to the parallel state. The method exploits device magnetism, thermal stability, and resistance with respect to an applied sensing voltage to sense the ambient temperature. The results are based on experimentally extracted parameters of a perpendicular and voltage controlled magnetic anisotropy MgO|CoFeB MTJ. A change in the device antiparallel resistance of up to 16 Ω per degree Kelvin at a sensing voltage of 0.2 volts is exhibited.