Basis of Presentation (Details)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Basis of Presentation
Number of weeks in each fiscal quarter for 52-week fiscal year	91 days	91 days

Disclosure of the number of weeks in each fiscal quarter for a 52-week fiscal year.

No definition available.

Name:	veco_NumberOfWeeksInFiscalQuarter52WeekYear
Namespace Prefix:	veco_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration