  The potential of a wide range of layered ternary carbide and nitride MAX
phases as conductors in interconnect metal lines in advanced CMOS technology
nodes has been evaluated using automated first principles simulations based on
density functional theory. The resistivity scaling potential of these
compounds, i.e. the sensitivity of their resistivity to reduced line
dimensions, has been benchmarked against Cu and Ru by evaluating their
transport properties within a semiclassical transport formalism. In addition,
their cohesive energy has been assessed as a proxy for the resistance against
electromigration and the need for diffusion barriers. The results indicate that
numerous MAX phases show promise as conductors in interconnects of advanced
CMOS technology nodes.
