In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a memory cell (1) or select element is provided. The element includes an ion conductor element (3) formed of a ion conductor material with mobile metal ions, a first electrically conducing electrode (4) in electrical contact with the ion conductor element, and a second electrically conducting electrode (6) in electrical contact with the ion conductor element, so that the memory cell or select element is programmable by applying an electrical voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode that causes the metal ions to be influenced so that an electrical resistance across the ion conductor element is caused to vary, for example because a metallic protrusion (7) is caused to grow or decompose. In contrast to prior art approaches, the ion conductor element has a shape that is asymmetrical with respect to an exchange of the first electrode (4) and the second electrode (6) for each other.