We present controlled growth of c(2 × 2)N islands on the (100) surface of Cu₃Au, which can be used as an insulating surface template for manipulation of magnetic adatoms. Compared to the commonly used Cu(100)/c(2 × 2)N surface, where island sizes do not exceed several nanometers due to strain limitation, the current system provides better lattice matching between metal and adsorption layer, allowing larger unstrained islands to be formed. We show that we can achieve island sizes ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers, increasing the potential building area by a factor 10³. Initial manipulation attempts show no observable difference in adatom behaviour, either in manipulation or spectroscopy.

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This thesis investigates intrinsic frustrated magnetic systems on an insulating square lattice. The frustrated systems were successfully engineered from magnetic iron atoms on top of an insulating square c(2x2) reconstruction of nitrogen on Cu3Au(100) (copper-gold) surface. Vertical atom manipulation was used to position the magnetic atoms atomically precise on the surface and methods were found to increase the success rate of this. For the investigation of frustration, a numerical simulator was made in Python for modelling frustrated spin structures based on already existing spin models and the following experimental measurements were taken: topography, spectroscopy and current-time traces. The simulations of a frustrated spin system show low energy excited states and the measurements show switching of the system between states.