Acquisitions and Divestiture - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Aug. 01, 2013 Matrical	Sep. 30, 2013 Matrical Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2013 Matrical Customer relationships	Sep. 30, 2013 Crossing Automation Inc	Oct. 29, 2012 Crossing Automation Inc	Sep. 30, 2013 Crossing Automation Inc Banker fees	Sep. 30, 2013 Crossing Automation Inc Incentive compensation payments	Sep. 30, 2013 Crossing Automation Inc Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2013 Crossing Automation Inc Customer relationships	Mar. 31, 2012 Intevac, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2011 CeligoCell Cytometer product line	Sep. 30, 2013 CeligoCell Cytometer product line	Dec. 30, 2011 CeligoCell Cytometer product line	Dec. 30, 2011 CeligoCell Cytometer product line Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2012 Nexus	Jul. 25, 2011 Nexus	Jul. 25, 2011 Nexus Completed technology	Jul. 25, 2011 Nexus Trade Names	Sep. 30, 2012 RTS	Apr. 02, 2011 RTS	Sep. 30, 2013 RTS Customer relationships	Sep. 30, 2013 RTS Trademarks and trade names	Sep. 30, 2013 Minimum Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2013 Minimum Customer relationships	Jul. 25, 2011 Minimum Nexus Customer relationships	Sep. 30, 2013 Minimum RTS Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2013 Maximum Completed technology	Sep. 30, 2013 Maximum Customer relationships	Jul. 25, 2011 Maximum Nexus Customer relationships	Sep. 30, 2013 Maximum RTS Completed technology	Jul. 25, 2011 System General Nexus Customer relationships	Jul. 25, 2011 Consumables Nexus Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, cash payment						$ 9,300,000												$ 8,700,000
Cash flow discount rate						18.00%							15.00%						25.00%			17.00%								17.00%				18.00%
Amortizable lives							4 years 7 months	7 years					7 years 8 months	8 years								6 years	2 years			7 years	3 years	2 years	4 years		5 years	10 years	13 years		7 years	6 years	13 years
Transaction costs						300,000			3,600,000		1,500,000	1,200,000
Revenue of acquiree									41,500,000
Net loss of acquiree									2,600,000
Inventory Step Up									2,700,000
Amortization									3,700,000
Total purchase price, net of cash acquired						9,326,000				59,005,000					3,000,000			9,216,000			84,928,000				3,381,000
Royalty Payment Rate																						6.00%
Transaction costs related to acquisition									600,000							100,000				719,000				188,000
Business acquisition deferred cash payable																		500,000
Impairment loss	614,958,000		614,958,000	614,958,000	614,958,000												1,960,000
Net Revenues			450,952,000	519,451,000	688,105,000															4,900,000
Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent			(2,215,000)	136,789,000	130,385,000															(3,200,000)
Writeoff Of Fair Value Stepup On Acquired Inventories																				700,000
Inventory Write-down																				600,000
Proceeds from the sale of the contract manufacturing business			0	0	78,249,000
Noncash or Part Noncash Divestiture, Amount of Consideration Received					1,300,000
Additional Proceeds From Sale Of Assets	2,500,000
Cost Of Disposal Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations Transaction Costs					2,300,000
Gain on sale of contract manufacturing business		45,000,000	0	0	45,009,000
Gain (Loss) on Sale of Properties, Applicable Income Taxes		$ 2,400,000