Match! Version 1 Tips & Tricks
The hints given below will help you to apply the Match! version 1 software more efficiently:
Repeated Usage/Storing of Restraints
If you are frequently using the same set of restraints (e.g. elements, density, inorganics only
etc.), you might get tired of
selecting these restraints in the corresponding dialog over and over again. Instead, it would
be much easier if you could somehow store the entries that correspond to these restraints,
in order to use them as a subset based on which you can
run search-match operations later on.
In order to do so, please create a new document first (select "File/New"). Afterwards,
open the "Restraints" dialog (e.g. by selecting "Search/Restraints"), and enter the
restraints of your choice. When you have finished, press the "Retrieve" button at the bottom
of the "Restraints" dialog. In the "Usage of Entries" dialog that is now displayed, please
make sure that the option "Use as base for future search-match operations" is marked, then
press "Accept". The entries that match your restraints are now transfered to the so-called
"restraints buffer", so that the next search-match operation only
takes these entries into account. Finally, save the document, by selecting "File/Save as..." and
entering a reasonable file name for the .mtd-file (which should somehow corresponds to the restraints
you have entered).
That's it! Each time you now would like to perform a phase identification limited to the
entries that correspond to your restraints, you simply have to open the corresponding document
(.mtd file) first, e.g. by double-clicking on this file in the Windows Explorer. Afterwards,
you can import your diffraction data and run the search-match as usual.
Please note, however, that you have to repeat the steps mentioned above if you have switched over
to a new reference database!
List Selection Box Handling
In the "Restraints" dialog, a list selection box can be opened in each case where a manual/keyboard
input of a numerical or text value is required, i.e. in each case where an edit/input line
is present. In these cases, you can open a list of all available values for the
corresponding field (the so-called "list selection box") by clicking on the
corresponding button to the right of the input line.
You can easily select the value(s) you are interested in by clicking on the corresponding
lines. Besides this, you can shorten the search for a particular value/line by rapidly
typing the first few letters. For instance,
if you are looking for an author "Stolpovskaya V.", you can simply type stolp
without pausing between the letters, and the corresponding line will instantly be
displayed.
If you made a mistake by typing a wrong letter, simply wait for two seconds (which
will automatically clear the input buffer) and try again.
Open/import diffraction data using command line
When invoking Match! from the "command line", you can give the path and name of a diffraction data file as "command line
parameter". Once Match! has started, the diffraction pattern will be imported automatically (using
the automatic file format recognition), with optional further automatic processing.
Note that if your path and/or file name contain blank characters, you have to put " characters in front and after the path/file
name string.
Large number entries resulting from search-match
If your search-match calculation gives a large number of candidate
entries, there may be two reasons for this:
- Your diffraction pattern contains a large number of
peaks. As a result, the probability
that there is an acceptable agreement between reference peak positions and the experimental
peaks is rather high, so a large number of entries may have an acceptable figure-of-merit (FoM)
value.
Please inspect the peaks carefully one by one, and delete all those peaks that you are not
really sure about. Afterwards, run the search-match again.
- The "peak correlation 2theta window" is rather large. Normally, this window is adjusted
by Match! automatically before the search-match calculation, based on the average FWHM
(full width at half maximum) of the experimental peaks. As a consequence, broad peaks (large
average FWHM) result in large peak correlation windows, so a large number of peaks (entries)
is considered as "matching".
You can disable the automatic determination of the 2theta peak correlation window size on the
lower right-hand side ("Delta 2theta") of the "Search-Match" page of the "Tools/Options"
dialog, by deselecting the "Auto" check box below. Try to use/adjust a smaller value for
"Delta 2theta", press "Ok", and run the search-match again.
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