Non-Invasive Nanoscale Potentiometry and Ballistic Transport in Epigraphene Nanoribbons

The recent observation of non-classical electron transport regimes in two-dimensional materials has called for new high-resolution non-invasive techniques to locally probe electronic properties. We introduce a novel hybrid scanning probe technique to map the local resistance and electrochemical potential with nm- and μV resolution, and we apply it to study epigraphene nanoribbons grown on the sidewalls of SiC substrate steps. Remarkably, the potential drop is non-uniform along the ribbons, and μm-long segments show no potential variation with distance. The potential maps are in excellent agreement with measurements of the local resistance. This reveals ballistic transport, compatible with μm-long room-temperature electronic mean-free paths.