  Performances of several single gap (gas gap 2 mm) prototype Resistive Plate
Chambers (RPC) made of high resistive ({\rho} \sim 1010 - 1012 {\Omega} cm)
bakelite, commercially available in India have been studied in recent times. To
make the inner electrode surfaces smooth, a thin coating of silicone has been
applied. An efficiency > 90% and time resolution \sim 2 ns (FWHM) have been
obtained for both the streamer and the avalanche mode. The induced charge
distributions of those silicone coated RPC are studied and the results are
presented. A numerical study on the effect of surface roughness of the
resistive electrodes on the electric field of the device has been carried out
using Garfield-neBEM code. A few results for a simplified model representing
surface roughness, measured using a surface profilometer for the bakelite
surfaces, have also been presented.
