/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I'd like to fabricate my own pcb for a custom keyboard, and the microcontroller I'm going to be using is an atmega32U4. The only issue is that its a 44tqfp package and I'm not sure how to program it. I have a USBtinyISP, is my only option to buy a weird ZIF socket like in pic related, or could i put headers on the board to program it once its soldered on there? There are also pseudo-arduino pro micro boards with the chip on there, would it be possible to program it mounted on the arduino board, then desolder it and attach it to my final pcb? These boards are also cheaper than actually buying just the chip, so thats another benefit. I've never designed a pcb with a proper bare microcontroller in such a tiny package so I'm a little lost.