While many individuals think of people in “Bunny Suits”, working in clean room; much of the necessary original research that occurs in more simple rooms, labs with specific tools and instruments. There are glove boxes, perhaps, so a clean and oxygen free environment can be used for assembly of small components.
But much of work is still simple research, to determine specific concentrations of chemicals, thermal and other processing techniques to develop the materials that provide the best solution to the problem as hand. This is often reiterative work that requires the patience of the chemist, the mind of a electrical engineer, and the over view of the mechanical engineer.
Electron microscopes, furnaces, fume hoods and vacuum ovens can exist quite happily in “ordinary” lab room. However, in top picture, my students and I are in a clean room, in the background is an image from an electron microscope showing the stinger of an ordinary wasp that expired in one of the researcher’s car, so no insect was harmed in the “filming” of this image.
However, nano particles have been used for centuries. Embedded in stained glass are elements like gold that deffracts the light, producing colors that don't fade with time.