As part of the process of building a VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) filament driver, I use an ATTINY to generate a square wave signal. I program these chips using an Arduino Uno used as a programmer through the “Arduino as ISP” sketch.
This process is painfully slow. Every time you need to change your code you have to fiddle with jumper cables and breadboard; as per the schematics below:

This is a very frustrating experience so I thought: this is perfect for a shield! And so I came out with this design:
In addition to fitting nicely on a Uno form factor, this shield as additional features:
- Switch between 5V and 3.3V using a simple jumper.
- ICSP header break out.
- All the Attiny pins available through PCB headers.
- A 2nd DIP8 area for prototyping or plugging in a SOIC to DIP adapter.
I ordered the PCB from OSH Park on August 24, and received it on September 4th. 8 business days turnover including shipping to the other side of the world! I am well impressed with the service!
As it is going to be mainly used for SOIC packages, it was critical for me to have DIP8 female headers, so I can plug in an adapter:
And there you have it! One less problem!
5 thoughts on “Arduino ATTiny Programmer Shield”
What are the values of capacitors, please? To reset 10uF and to power? Thanks.
10nF on the reset line, power can be anything bulky enough. 1uF to 10uF is ok.
Can you provide PCB project file in any way?
Sorry I don’t have it anymore!
Hi, I hawe Gerber files