Basis of Presentation (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Basis of Presentation (Policies)	Mar. 31, 2016
Basis of Presentation
Revenue Recognition	Revenue recognition Veeco recognizes revenue when all of the following criteria have been met: persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists with a customer; delivery of the specified products has occurred or services have been rendered; prices are contractually fixed or determinable; and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue is recorded including shipping and handling costs and excluding applicable taxes related to sales. Contracts with customers frequently contain multiple deliverables, such as systems, upgrades, components, spare parts, maintenance, and service plans. Judgment is required to properly identify the accounting units of the multiple-element arrangements and to determine how the revenue should be allocated among the accounting units. Veeco also evaluates whether multiple transactions with the same customer or related parties should be considered part of a single, multiple-element arrangement based on an assessment of whether the contracts or agreements are negotiated or executed within a short time frame of each other or if there are indicators that the contracts are negotiated in contemplation of one another. Moreover, judgment is used in interpreting the commercial terms and determining when all criteria have been met in order to recognize revenue in the appropriate accounting period. When there are separate units of accounting, Veeco allocates revenue to each element based on the following selling price hierarchy: vendor-specific objective evidence (“VSOE”) if available; third party evidence (“TPE”) if VSOE is not available; or the best estimate of selling price (“BESP”) if neither VSOE nor TPE is available. Veeco uses BESP for the majority of the elements in its arrangements. The maximum revenue recognized on a delivered element is limited to the amount that is not contingent upon the delivery of additional items. Veeco considers many facts when evaluating each of its sales arrangements to determine the timing of revenue recognition including its contractual obligations, the customer’s creditworthiness, and the nature of the customer’s post-delivery acceptance provisions. Veeco’s system sales arrangements, including certain upgrades, generally include field acceptance provisions that may include functional or mechanical test procedures. For the majority of the arrangements, a customer source inspection of the system is performed in Veeco’s facility or test data is sent to the customer documenting that the system is functioning to the agreed upon specifications prior to delivery. Historically, such source inspection or test data replicates the field acceptance provisions that are performed at the customer’s site prior to final acceptance of the system. When Veeco objectively demonstrates that the criteria specified in the contractual acceptance provisions are achieved prior to delivery, revenue is recognized upon system delivery since there is no substantive contingency remaining related to the acceptance provisions at that date, subject to the retention amount constraint described below. For new products, new applications of existing products, or for products with substantive customer acceptance provisions where Veeco cannot objectively demonstrate that the criteria specified in the contractual acceptance provisions have been achieved prior to delivery, revenue and the associated costs are deferred and fully recognized upon the receipt of final customer acceptance, assuming all other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Veeco’s system sales arrangements, including certain upgrades, generally do not contain provisions for the right of return, forfeiture, refund, or other purchase price concessions. In the rare instances where such provisions are included, all revenue is deferred until such rights expire. The sales arrangements generally include installation. The installation process is not deemed essential to the functionality of the equipment since it is not complex; it does not require significant changes to the features or capabilities of the equipment or involve constructing elaborate interfaces or connections subsequent to factory acceptance. Veeco has a demonstrated history of consistently completing installations in a timely manner and can reliably estimate the costs of such activities. Most customers engage Veeco to perform the installation services, although there are other third-party providers with sufficient knowledge who could complete these services. Based on these factors, installation is deemed to be inconsequential or perfunctory relative to the system sale as a whole, and as a result, installation service is not considered a separate element of the arrangement. As such, Veeco accrues the cost of the installation at the time of revenue recognition for the system. In many cases Veeco’s products are sold with a billing retention, typically 10% of the sales price, which is payable by the customer when field acceptance provisions are completed. The amount of revenue recognized upon delivery of a system or upgrade, if any, is limited to the lower of i) the amount billed that is not contingent upon acceptance provisions or ii) the value of the arrangement consideration allocated to the delivered elements, if such sale is part of a multiple-element arrangement. Veeco’s contractual terms with customers in Japan generally specify that title and risk and rewards of ownership transfer upon customer acceptance. A distributor is used for almost all sales to customers in Japan. Title passes to the distributor upon shipment; however, due to customary local business practices, the risk and rewards of ownership of the system transfers to the end-customers upon their acceptance. As a result, for customers in Japan, Veeco recognizes revenue upon receipt of written acceptance from the end customer. Veeco recognizes revenue related to maintenance and service contracts ratably over the applicable contract term. Veeco recognizes revenue from the sales of components, spare parts, and specified service engagements at the time of delivery in accordance with the terms of the applicable sales arrangement. Incremental direct costs incurred related to the acquisition of a customer contract, such as sales commissions, are expensed as incurred, even if the related revenue is deferred in accordance with the above policy.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements	Recent accounting pronouncements In May 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, as amended by ASU 2015-14, ASU 2016-08, and ASU 2016-10: Revenue from Contracts with Customers (the “Update”). The Update requires Veeco’s revenue recognition to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which Veeco expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The Update outlines a five-step model to make the revenue recognition determination and requires new financial statement disclosures. Publicly-traded companies are required to adopt the Update for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Update provides for different transition alternatives. Veeco is evaluating the impact of adopting the Update on its consolidated financial statements and related financial statement disclosures and has not yet determined which method of adoption will be selected. In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01: Financial Instruments — Overall, which requires certain equity investments to be measured at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in net income. Veeco is required to adopt this ASU beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019; early adoption is permitted. Veeco does not expect this ASU will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02: Leases, which generally requires Veeco’s operating lessee rights and obligations to be recognized as assets and liabilities in the Balance Sheet. In addition, interest on lease liabilities is to be recognized separately from the amortization of right-of-use assets in the Statement of Operations. Further, payments of the principal portion of lease liabilities are to be classified as financing activities while payments of interest on lease liabilities and variable lease payments are to be classified as operating activities in the Statement of Cash Flows. When the standard is adopted, Veeco will be required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified retrospective approach. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early application permitted. Veeco is evaluating the impact of adopting the ASU on its consolidated financial statements. Veeco is also evaluating other pronouncements recently issued but not yet adopted. The adoption of these pronouncements is not expected to have a material impact on Veeco’s consolidated financial statements. Change in Accounting Principle In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09 Stock Compensation: Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. Veeco has elected to early adopt the ASU. Prospectively, excess tax benefits and deficiencies will be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement in the reporting period incurred. In conjunction with adopting the ASU, Veeco has made an accounting policy election to account for forfeitures when they occur. The ASU transition guidance requires that this election be applied on a modified retrospective basis through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the period in which the ASU is effective. Accordingly, Veeco recorded a $1.3 million charge to the opening accumulated deficit balance with a corresponding adjustment to additional paid-in capital, resulting in no impact to the opening balance of total stockholders’ equity. In addition, Veeco recorded additional deferred tax assets with an offsetting valuation allowance of $2.4 million.

Disclosure of accounting policy for revenue recognition. If the entity has different policies for different types of revenue transactions, the policy for each material type of transaction is generally disclosed. If a sales transaction has multiple element arrangements (for example, delivery of multiple products, services or the rights to use assets) the disclosure may indicate the accounting policy for each unit of accounting as well as how units of accounting are determined and valued. The disclosure may encompass important judgment as to appropriateness of principles related to recognition of revenue. The disclosure also may indicate the entity's treatment of any unearned or deferred revenue that arises from the transaction.