On-demand manufacture of payment instruments secured by an embedded programmable memory film

A programmable payment instrument comprising:

• a thickness that is not greater than 0.76 millimeters (“mm”);
• a surface area that is at least 90% of 85.60 mm×53.98 mm;
• a programmable memory film (“PMF”) embedded within the thickness during a first manufacturing stage performed by a first device and the PMF comprises a plurality of memory cells that define a grid pattern;
• and
• a programmable integrated circuit chip embedded in the thickness during the first manufacturing stage performed by the first device;
• wherein:
• based on the grid pattern, a specialized program is selected and loaded onto the programmable integrated circuit chip during a second manufacturing stage using a second device;
• the grid pattern provides a key for the second device to authenticate the programmable payment instrument and load the specialized program onto the programmable integrated circuit chip;
• and
• the specialized program configures the programmable payment instrument to be operable with a target specification and a target issuer computer system.