New Facilities for the Production of 1 mm gap Resistive Plate Chambers for the Upgrade of the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer
The ATLAS Muon Spectrometer is undergoing a major upgrade for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), including the addition of three new thin-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) layers in the inner barrel region. These RPCs have 1 mm gas gaps between high-pressure phenolic laminate (HPL) electrodes, enhancing their background rate capability and longevity. Nearly 1000 RPC gas gaps will be produced to maximize muon trigger acceptance and efficiency. To reduce reliance on a single supplier and expedite production, the ATLAS muon community formed partnerships with two companies in Germany and the Max Planck Institute for Physics. The gas gap assembly procedure was adapted to the industrial partners' infrastructure and tools, enabling the transfer of technology after prototyping. Manufacturer certification involved constructing multiple small- and full-size gas gap prototypes at each facility. These prototypes underwent extensive testing at CERN's Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++), where their efficiency and time resolution were verified under varying gamma backgrounds. They also passed an accelerated aging test, having been exposed to the maximum photon dose anticipated at the HL-LHC. This contribution presents the gas gap production procedures, certification test results, and a comparison of the manufacturing methods adopted by the different external companies. These outcomes confirm that the new facilities can reliably produce high-quality RPCs meeting ATLAS standards for HL-LHC operations.