Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Research Articles

Effective oxidation decomplexation of Cu-EDTA and Cu2+ electrodeposition from PCB manufacturing wastewater by persulfate-based electrochemical oxidation: Performance and mechanisms.

Complex wastewater matrices such as printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing wastewater present a major environmental concern. In this work, simultaneous decomplexation of metal complex Cu-EDTA and reduction/electrodeposition of Cu2+ was conducted in a persulfate-based electrochemical oxidation system. Oxidizing/reductive species were simultaneously produced in this system, which realized 99.8% of Cu-EDTA decomplexation, 94.5% of Cu2+ reduction/electrodeposition under the conditions of original solution pH = 3.2, electrode distance = 3cm, [Na2S2O8]0 = 5mM, current density = 12mA/cm2, and reaction time = 180min. The total treatment cost is as low as 0.80 USD/mol Cu-EDTA. Effective mineralization (74.1% total organic carbon removal) of the solution was obtained after 3h of treatment. •OH and SO4•- drove the Cu-EDTA decomplexation, destroying the chelating sites and finally it was effectively mineralized to CO2, H2O and Cu2+. The mechanisms of copper electrodeposition on the stainless steel cathode and persulfate activation by the BDD anode were proposed based on the electrochemical measurements. The electrodes exhibited excellent reusability and low metal (total iron and Ni2+) leaching during 20 cycles of application. This study provide an effective and sustainable method for the application of the electro-persulfate process in treating complex wastewater matrices.

Sustainable printed circuit board substrates based on flame-retarded PLA/flax composites to reduce environmental load of electronics: Quality, reliability, degradation and application tests

The present paper introduces a novel, sustainable approach to produce an eco-friendly Printed Circuit Board (PCB) substrate; a substitute for traditional substrates, to significantly reduce e-waste. We present the prepreg technology, the road to actual circuit assembly with application studies, life cycle analysis (LCA), and sustainability analysis. The flame-retarded prepregs and resulting PCB assemblies were based on polylactic acid (PLA), the structure is reinforced with flax textiles. After copper lamination, subtractive PCB production was performed, and thermal and mechanical reliability was investigated in the case of both laminated and bare substrates. Steps of surface roughness, peel and thermal analysis followed. After a new set of assemblies, the post-assembly analysis was extended with further shear strength analysis on the soldered components and mass analysis regarding thermal processes. The evaluation showed that PLA/Flax substrates provide reliable structural performance up to 200 °C in the reflow soldering process; this allows limited but stabilized application possibilities with specific eco-friendly lead-free solders. A basic blinker circuit and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)--based design was produced and tested; the latter has the general complexity of a commercial circuit. A vol% and wt% analysis extended our discussion with a reduction of harmful components in waste in the range of 90%, which is a disruptive and significant result. Life cycle analysis (LCA) quantified the ecological impact of the assembly, highlighting a significant ease on environmental load (∼10%) for the total assembly. Finally, a qualitative degradation study was introduced to the prepared samples to investigate short-term stability with mechanical-, colour-, mass- and scanning electron microscopy (structure) analysis. Early results show that the boards can withstand the harsh environment of a composting bin for a few days, but in the time of a few weeks, degradation starts, pointing to eventual decomposition. The work directly connects with multiple sustainability development goals.

Telemetric angle and position sensing using millimeter-wave metamaterial and a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) chip

Abstract. We present a fully telemetric sensor concept for angle and position measurement. It is based on single-layer millimeter-wave metamaterials that exhibit an anisotropic resonant behavior in interaction with incident electromagnetic waves. The angle of rotation is determined from the reflected millimeter waves of the metamaterial target using a millimeter wave chip transceiver. We use a metamaterial geometry exhibiting anisotropic Fano-type resonant behavior. The Fano-type resonance shows a distinct minimum in the reflection spectrum, even with a single layer of metamaterial. The metamaterial target is manufactured on a printed circuit board (PCB) laminate with low-cost standard manufacturing methods. We present an analytical model estimating the resonance frequency of the metamaterial used. The model allows us to assess whether with the Fano-type metamaterial unit cell structure resonance frequencies in the millimeter wave regime are achievable and compliant with standard PCB manufacturing design rules. We performed proof-of-principle experiments with the metamaterial targets and a vector network analyzer, assisted by a detailed analysis of the sensor effect by means of finite-element method calculations. Finally, we implemented a demonstrator setup containing a state-of-the-art frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar chip and a metamaterial target manufactured with standard PCB manufacturing processes.

Comparison of Different NDT Techniques for Evaluation of the Quality of PCBs Produced Using Traditional vs. Additive Manufacturing Technologies.

Multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs) can be produced not only in the traditional way but also additively. Both traditional and additive manufacturing can lead to invisible defects in the internal structure of the electronic component, eventually leading to the spontaneous failure of the device. No matter what kind of technology is used for the production of PCBs, when they are used in important structures, quality control is important to ensure the reliability of the component. The nondestructive testing (NDT) of the structure of manufactured electronic components can help ensure the quality of devices. Investigations of possible changes in the structure of the product can help identify the causes of defects. Different types of manufacturing technologies can lead to diverse types of possible defects. Therefore, employing several nondestructive inspection techniques could be preferable for the inspection of electronic components. In this article, we present a comparison of various NDT techniques for the evaluation of the quality of PCBs produced using traditional and additive manufacturing technologies. The methodology for investigating the internal structure of PCBs is based on several of the most reliable and widely used technologies, namely, acoustic microscopy, active thermography, and radiography. All of the technologies investigated have their advantages and disadvantages, so if high-reliability products are to be produced, it would be advantageous to carry out tests using multiple technologies in order to detect the various types of defects and determine their parameters.

Evaluation of the Environmental Impact within Semiconductor Packaging Materials

This paper reports the sustainability of materials and components required for PCB manufacturing, namely the substrate material, die-attach method and IC chip design. Electronics manufacturing processes are generally decided by the technical and economic requirements, and not sustainability, resulting in poor practices and unintended outcomes. Alternative methods could be used and this paper reviews some of the drivers and opportunities for sustainable PCB manufacturing. A lifecycle assessment (LCA) was performed on simple Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and a comparison of the manufacturing approach using FR-4, polyimide and paper-based substrates is made. The impacts of different processing steps were considered, all scored using the ReCiPe Endpoint. The results found solder material has a significant influence, with lower-temperature solders reducing the overall environmental impact. However, it has been found that the component that has the biggest environmental impact overall is the IC. We discuss how die size, technology node and packaging formats effects this rating, and also show how the move towards alternative materials can reduce the environmental impact of electronic products.

Simulation‐based optimisation for order release of printed circuit board workshop with process switching constraints

AbstractWorkload control (WLC) is usually employed to make order release to attain workload balance, satisfactory delivery rate and high production efficiency. However, in the real production environment of printed circuit board (PCB) industries, slight modifications in the product process shifts the bottleneck resources which leads to misjudge the effect of WLC and may ultimately increase the lateness of orders. Therefore, this research focuses on the order release problem of PCB production system considering main process flow and shifting of bottlenecks. At first, certain improvements are proposed on the classic WLC method and two order release control strategies based on process switching are designed to generate order release plan on the basis of Lancaster University Management School Corrected Order Release method. Furthermore, different scheduling rules are investigated along with the upper workload limits on the PCB system simultaneously. Finally, a simulation model is developed to analyse the impact of order release methods on the system performance through simulation experiments. Furthermore, extensive simulation experiments for different scheduling rules on bottleneck resource and different workload upper limit ratios are also carried out in the current research. Simulation results show that the process order release control strategy based on process switching has a strong adaptability in PCB manufacturing system.

Evaluating Performance Incorporating Multi-Criteria Decision Making and ESG Index: The Case of Taiwanese PCB Industry

The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) industry is known as the "mother of electronic system product" in the high-tech electronics industry. When this industry enters a mature stage, cost control becomes the key to its success. Additionally, as the corporate’s awareness of social responsibility like ESG (Environment, Social, & Governance) has risen, the cost control remains a critical indicator for evaluating a company's performance. This study uses the consolidated financial statements of 35 companies in Taiwan's listed PCB industry through collecting data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange from 2022 to 2022. This study chooses 16 key financial indicators through expert opinions and selects 7 input variables and 5 output variables from 5 screening criteria. Then, through the normalization of grey relational data, the degree of influence of each indicator on the performance of PCB manufacturers is analyzed, and which independent variables have better prediction power through the multiple regression model is achieved. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) analysis in Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) is applied to identify the ranking. The relative distance compared with the best manufacturer and the worst manufacturer is used to evaluate and rank the pros and cons of each ranking. VIKOR is then used to analyze ranking further. The results of data analysis have shown slightly different rankings based on TOPSIS and VIKOR. However, it seems the analysis of VIKOR is more accurate. The comparison of Taiwanese PCB manufacturers before and after the ranking is also revealed. Several practical directions for corporate planning or improvement are suggested. The link between ESG indicators and finance is observed not significant.

Liquid Metal‐Based High‐Density Interconnect Technology for Stretchable Printed Circuits

AbstractHigh‐density interconnect (HDI) technology for liquid metal (LM)‐based stretchable printed circuit boards is crucial for expanding their applicability. HDI technology provides high‐resolution multilayer circuits with a high density of components, as required for next generation of neuroprobes and ultrasonic and sensor arrays. This study presents a HDI technique utilizing laser engraved micro grooves in silicone with a protective lift‐off mask of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and subsequent microscale LM particle spray deposition. This approach achieves high‐resolution LM patterns and enables multilayer connectivity and high‐density integration of components simultaneously, that is, realizing HDI technology. It is demonstrated using a stretchable 0201 LED display with a density of six leads per mm2 and a cochlear implant (CI) electrode array. The demonstrated manufacturing of the CI has the potential to enable fully automated printed circuit board manufacturing of such implants with increased precision and throughput. Implants in guinea pigs show that the CI is capable of activating the auditory neuron with electrical auditory brainstem response (eABR) and electrical compound action potential (eCAP) of high quality. Moreover, the U‐shaped cross section of the LM interconnects provides a higher mechanical shock resistance of the circuit than that of normal rectangular cross sections.

Electrochemical detection of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in blood plasma with surface-modified electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) printed circuit board (PCB) electrodes

Printed circuit board (PCB) based biosensors have often utilized hard gold electroplating, that nullifies the cost advantages of this technology as compared to screen printed electrodes. Electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) is a popular gold deposition process widely used in PCB manufacturing, but vulnerable to pinhole defects and large surface roughness, which compromises biosensor performance. In this work, we present a method to address these challenges through electrodeposition of methylene blue (MB) to cover surface defects and improve electroactivity of ENIG PCB electrodes. We also demonstrate a process to realize in situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using acid-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as scaffold, that are used to immobilize antibody for the target molecule (myeloperoxidase: MPO, early warning biomarker for cardiovascular diseases) through a modified cysteamine/gluteraldehyde based process. The processing steps on the electrode surface are developed in a manner that do not compromise the integrity of the electrode, resulting in repeatable and reliable performance of the sensors. Further, we demonstrate a cost-effective microfluidic packaging process to integrate a capillary pump driven microfluidic channel on the PCB electrode for seamless introduction of samples for testing. We demonstrate the ability of the sensor to distinguish clinically abnormal concentrations of MPO from normal concentrations through extensive characterization using spiked serum and blood plasma samples, with a limit of detection of 15.79 ng/mL.

Image Segmentation of Fiducial Marks with Complex Backgrounds Based on the mARU-Net

Circuits on different layers in a printed circuit board (PCB) must be aligned according to high-precision fiducial mark images during exposure processing. However, processing quality depends on the detection accuracy of fiducial marks. Precise segmentation of fiducial marks from images can significantly improve detection accuracy. Due to the complex background of PCB images, there are significant challenges in the segmentation and detection of fiducial mark images. In this paper, the mARU-Net is proposed for the image segmentation of fiducial marks with complex backgrounds to improve detection accuracy. Compared with some typical segmentation methods in customized datasets of fiducial marks, the mARU-Net demonstrates good segmentation accuracy. Experimental research shows that, compared with the original U-Net, the segmentation accuracy of the mARU-Net is improved by 3.015%, while the number of parameters and training times are not increased significantly. Furthermore, the centroid method is used to detect circles in segmentation results, and the deviation is kept within 30 microns, with higher detection efficiency. The detection accuracy of fiducial mark images meets the accuracy requirements of PCB production.

Reliability evaluation for time-based stochastic manufacturing networks with time-dependent reliability

ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate the system reliability for a time-based stochastic manufacturing network (TSMN). The architecture of a TSMN includes arcs and nodes where each node is an inspection station and each arc is a workstation of identical machines. Due to the possibility of partial or complete maintenance and machine failures, the reliability should be time-dependent and the arcs could be considered as stochastic capacities. To consider time factor, the Weibull reliability function is utilized to characterize the time-dependent reliability of each machine. Then, based on the reliability of each machine, the workstation reliability can be derived, where the workstation reliability is the probability that a workstation can provide sufficient number of machines to complete a demand until a given time. Focusing on a given TSMN with the specified demand and constrained operating time, the performance for a TSMN, which is referred to as TSMN reliability, can be calculated in terms of workstation reliability. In addition, the situation for machines having different times under operation is analyzed for TSMN reliability. A step-by-step procedure for evaluating the TSMN reliability is developed, and a printed circuit board manufacturing system is discussed for the proposed TSMN reliability procedure.

An improved spider monkey optimization algorithm for multi-objective planning and scheduling problems of PCB assembly line

In recent years, the demand for printed circuit boards (PCBs) with various electronic components has tremendously increased due to high customization in smart electronic devices. To meet the market competition, efficient and realistic decisions with optimum planning and scheduling are required to enhance the productivity of PCB industries. Processing time of surface mounting technology (SMT) machines defines the pace of PCB production because of time consuming and critical process. In addition, it is observed that various planning and scheduling problems exist in PCB assembly line which are required to emphasize to increase the productivity. Therefore, in this study critical planning and scheduling problems i.e., component allocation problem (CAP) and component placement sequence problem (CPSP) are considered to optimize. Moreover, the periodic maintenance (PM) is also considered to maintain the efficiency of machines and make the problem more realistic. A mathematical model is formulated to minimize the maximum completion time, total energy consumption and the total maintenance time simultaneously. To solve this multi-objective NP-hard problem, an improved spider monkey optimization (ISMO) algorithm is developed. The efficiency and effectiveness of ISMO algorithm is improved by embedding few additional features. a) Two heuristics to ensure better initial solutions; b) evolutionary state judgment based on change in Pareto entropy to ensure the tradeoff between exploration and exploitation; c) an archive-based Q-Learning strategy to ensure the parametric adaptive tuning. Finally, computational experiments and comprehensive performance comparisons with other well-known multi-objective algorithms are performed with several size problem instances. The statistical results and analysis demonstrate that the proposed ISMO algorithm outperforms the other competitors.

A Segmental 2D Readout Board Manufactured in Printed Circuit Board Technology for Gas Electron Multiplier Detectors.

The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) was introduced by Fabio Sauli in 1997. This technology is broadly used in current and planned High-Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. One of the key components of these detectors is a readout board, which collects charges amplified by GEM foils and transfers them to readout electronics. The commonly used Cartesian XY readout boards are manufactured from the same type of polyamide film used to produce the GEM foils. The manufacturing process utilizes a deep polyimide etching, similar to the Micro Chemical Vias (MCV) etching process, which is protected by patent. The material prepared in this way is glued onto a rigid substrate and mounted in a detector. The production process was developed at CERN, and the technology has been commercialized to a small extent. Consequently, only a few research centers have the ability to make dedicated readout strips readouts. GEM detectors are characterized by a segmented structure that allows the separation of an electron-multiplying structure from a readout. This feature enables the implementation of a new type of charge reading system without the need to interfere with the GEM foil system. A new approach is proposed to simplify production and reduce the costs of GEM detector readout boards. It is based on the concept of segmental readout structures that are manufactured in standard Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology. The interconnectors and mountings are located on the back of the bottom, so it is possible to place the readout electronics behind the readout plate. The boards are designed in such a way that they can be panelized into a readout with a more extensive active area. The margin between PCBs is minimalized to approximately 200 µm, which is less than 1% of the 70 × 70 mm2 board area, so the active area is as big as possible. Therefore, this solution gives us the ability to further increase the size of a readout by adding additional segments, which reduces the cost of scaling up the detector size. A few research groups have suggested similar solutions that utilize PCB technology, but currently, only detectors with 1D zigzag readouts have been validated and used. The measurement results of other 2D (XY) redouts using PCB technology have not been presented. The measurements shown and discussed in this paper validated the proposed technology. X-ray radiographs were obtained, validating the ability to use this technology to manufacture readout boards for GEM detectors. In opposition to state-of-the-art readouts, the proposed solution can be manufactured by any PCB manufacturer without using MCV-patented technology. This gives the users flexibility in designing and ordering low-cost custom readouts.

Bending analysis of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites/copper-clad laminates for multi-layer printed circuit boards

Printed circuit board (PCB) is the most important part of any electronic device which is made of copper-clad laminate and glass fiber-reinforced composites. Since the ply orientation of fiber-reinforced composites and lamina thickness have a significant influence on the mechanical properties of the whole composite laminate it is necessary to investigate the effects of ply orientation and lamina thickness on the bending properties of PCB so that they can be manufactured to meet the service requirements. In this work, the bending properties of PCB were investigated for seven different ply orientations of glass fiber-reinforced composite laminas and for eight different thickness combinations (for a constant laminate thickness) of glass fiber-reinforced composite lamina and copper-clad laminate. A commercially available finite element analysis software (Abaqus) was used to simulate a three-point bending test of PCBs and the simulation results were validated using experimental results. It is found that the bending stiffness is maximum for the cross-ply laminate. The introduction of angle ply improves the maximum von-Mises stress of the PCB with an insignificant cost of bending stiffness (less than 5% reduction). It is found that the bending stiffness and the maximum von-Mises stress of the PCB can be regulated through the variation of thickness of the constituent lamina. The laminate stiffness can be increased by increasing the thickness of stiffer laminas or by placing the stiffer laminas towards the surface of the laminate. The outcome of this research would provide a comprehensive understanding of the bending characteristics of the multi-layered PCBs which can be directly utilized by the PCB manufacturers. However, the effects of ply orientation and lamina thickness variation on the behavior of the PCBs subject to temperature variation, impact loading, vibration, and other conditions that might affect the service life of the PCBs should be investigated.

Heavy metals high-sensitive detection by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy based on radial electroosmotic flow-driven enrichment

Heavy metal detection is imperative for human health and environmental sustainability. However, the commonly used liquid sample pretreatment, drying liquid droplet to solid, encounters solute diffusion and nonuniform distribution, thus causing unpromising detection results. Here, we developed a radial electroosmotic flow-driven (REOF) platform to enrich heavy metals in water for high-sensitive detection using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Firstly, the electrodes in the substate for REOF were designed and produced by the printed circuit board manufacturer. Different particle deposition patterns were observed by modifying the direction and magnitude of voltage in the evaporated droplets of Cadmium Chloride (CdCl2) on the substrate. Then, the two-dimensional model of the evaporating droplets with REOF was established to verify the experimental phenomenon. The CdCl2 (10–50 mg/L) and Manganese Chloride (MnCl2, 1–8 mg/L) solutions were quantitatively analyzed with the optimized parameter on the substrate by LIBS. The detection limits of Ca and Mn can be reduced by approximately 42 times with REOF substrates by LIBS. Finally, the Mn in the real underground water sample was tested with the REOF substrate by LIBS, and the relative error was 5.5% compared with the results of ICP-MS. The results demonstrated that the REOF can enrich and uniformly distribute the solute on the substrate, and be helpful for the analysis of heavy metals in solution with LIBS.

PCB Defect Detection via Local Detail and Global Dependency Information.

Due to the impact of the production environment, there may be quality issues on the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs), which could result in significant economic losses during the application process. As a result, PCB surface defect detection has become an essential step for managing PCB production quality. With the continuous advancement of PCB production technology, defects on PCBs now exhibit characteristics such as small areas and diverse styles. Utilizing global information plays a crucial role in detecting these small and variable defects. To address this challenge, we propose a novel defect detection framework named Defect Detection TRansformer (DDTR), which combines convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transformer architectures. In the backbone, we employ the Residual Swin Transformer (ResSwinT) to extract both local detail information using ResNet and global dependency information through the Swin Transformer. This approach allows us to capture multi-scale features and enhance feature expression capabilities.In the neck of the network, we introduce spatial and channel multi-head self-attention (SCSA), enabling the network to focus on advantageous features in different dimensions. Moving to the head, we employ multiple cascaded detectors and classifiers to further improve defect detection accuracy. We conducted extensive experiments on the PKU-Market-PCB and DeepPCB datasets. Comparing our proposed DDTR framework with existing common methods, we achieved the highest F1-score and produced the most informative visualization results. Lastly, ablation experiments were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of individual modules within the DDTR framework. These experiments confirmed the effectiveness and contributions of our approach.

Surface Roughness Effect From Different Surfaces of Microstrip Lines and Reference Plane

Microstrip line structures consist of different conductors, such as trace and reference planes, which have different surface roughness levels due to the printed circuit board manufacturing process. The bottom surface of the trace is often rougher than the top surface of the trace, and the roughness levels of different reference planes vary for different foil types and manufacturing processes. To accurately model the additional conductor loss caused by such differences in microstrip lines, a new modeling method is proposed with different roughness levels on different surfaces and a reference plane, in contrast to the traditional roughness modeling approach, which considers a uniform roughness distribution for all surfaces. The effect of the different surfaces on the resistance is determined by applying additional microstrip models to analyze the effect of surface roughness from different surfaces and to improve the accuracy of insertion loss prediction based on the modeled total resistance.

Investigation of visual inspection methodologies for printed circuit board products

Investigation of visual inspection methodologies for printed circuit board products

Genetic algorithm-based approach for makespan minimization in a flow shop with queue time limits and skip-ping jobs

This study investigates a flow shop scheduling problem with queue time limits and skipping jobs, which are common scheduling requirements for semiconductor and printed circuit board manufacturing systems. These manufacturing systems involve the most complex processes, which are strictly controlled and constrained to manufacture high-quality products and satisfy dynamic customer orders. Further, queue times between consecutive stages are limited. Given that the queue times are limited, jobs must begin the next step within the maximum queue time after the jobs in the previous step are completed. In the considered flow shop, several jobs can skip the first step, referred to as skipping jobs. Skipping jobs exist because of multiple types of products processed in the same flow shop. For the considered flow shop, this paper proposes a mathematical programming formulation and a genetic algorithm to minimize the makespan. The GA demonstrated its strengths through comprehensive computational experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness and efficiency. As the problem size increased, the GA's performance improved noticeably, while maintaining acceptable computation times for real-world fab facilities. We also validated its performance in various scenarios involving queue time limits and skipping jobs, to further emphasize its capabilities.

SLIM Tricks: Tools, Concepts, and Strategies for the Development of Planar Ion Guides.

Traveling wave ion mobility experiments using planar electrode structures (e.g., structures for lossless ion manipulation, TW-SLIM) leverage the mature manufacturing capabilities of printed circuit boards (PCBs). With routine levels of mechanical precision below 150 μm, the conceptual flexibility afforded by PCBs for use as planar ion guides is expansive. To date, the design and construction of TW-SLIM platforms require considerable legacy expertise, especially with respect to simulation and circuit layout strategies. To lower the barrier of TW-SLIM implementation, we introduce Python-based interactive tools that assist in graphical layout of the core electrode footprints for planar ion guides with minimal user inputs. These scripts also export the exact component locations and assignments for direct integration into KiCad and SIMION for PCB finalization and ion flight simulations. The design concepts embodied in the set of scripts comprising SLIM Pickins (PCB CAD generation) and pigsim (SIMION workspace generation) build upon the lessons learned in the independent development of the research-grade TW-SLIM platforms in operation at WSU. Due to the inherent flexibility of the PCB manufacturing process and the time devoted to board layouts prior to manufacturing, both scripts serve to enable rapid, iterative design considerations. Because only a few predefined parameters are necessary (i.e., the TW-SLIM monomer width, x position following a TW Turn, and y position following a TW Turn) it is possible to design the exact component layouts and accompanying simulation space in a manner of minutes. There is no known limitation to the board layout capacities of the scripts, and the size of a designed layout is ultimately constrained by the abilities of the final PCB design and simulation tools, KiCad and SIMION, to accommodate the thousands of electrodes comprising the final design (i.e., RAM and software overhead). Toward removing the barriers to exploring new SLIM tracks and the likelihood of layout errors that require considerable revision and engineering time, the SLIM Pickins and pigsim tools (included as Supporting Information) allow the user to quickly design a length of planar ion guide, simulate its abilities to confine and transmit ions, compare hypothetical board outlines to given vacuum chamber dimensions, and generate a near-production ready PCB CAD file. In addition to these tools, this report outlines a series of cost-saving strategies with respect to vacuum feedthroughs and vacuum chamber design for TW ion mobility experiments using planar ion guides.