Circuit board manufacturing system and method

A circuit board manufacturing system comprising:

• a movable arm including a tool coupling;
• a tool rack holding a via cutting tool, a trace forming tool, and a marker;
• an automatic tool changer configured to autonomously exchange tools held by the tool coupling;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• cause the automatic tool changer to couple the via cutting tool to the movable arm;
• control the movable arm and the via cutting tool to cut holes in a board material according to a user-selected arrangement of vias;
• cause the automatic tool changer to replace the via cutting tool with the trace forming tool;
• control the movable arm and the trace forming tool to form conductive traces in an exterior conductive layer of the board material according to a user-selected trace pattern by removing portions of the exterior conductive layer to define electrically disconnected moats;
• and
• cause the automatic tool changer to replace the trace forming tool with the marker.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, while executed by one or more processors of a controller of a circuit board manufacturing system, cause the controller to:

• access circuit board design data defining a user-selected arrangement of vias and a user-selected pattern of conductive traces or conductive pads for a circuit board to be formed from a board material having a base material and at least one exterior conductive layer;
• control a via cutting tool to cut holes in the board material according to the user-selected arrangement of vias;
• control a trace forming tool comprising a laser light source to laser ablate portions of the at least one exterior conductive layer to form electrically disconnected moats at least partially surrounding the conductive traces or conductive pads according to the user-selected pattern;
• control the trace forming tool to expose the at least one exterior conductive layer to laser light to remove oxidized material from the at least one exterior conductive layer;
• and
• control the trace forming tool to mark a covering layer positioned over the at least one exterior conductive layer to form indicia identifying at least one of the vias, the conductive traces, or the conductive pads.