Goodwill and Intangible Assets - Components of Goodwill by Operating Segment (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross goodwill	$ 848,596	$ 817,096	$ 736,366
Accumulated goodwill impairments	(614,958)	(614,958)	(614,958)
Goodwill	233,638	202,138	121,408
Brooks Semiconductor Solutions Group
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross goodwill	655,762	655,781	654,727
Accumulated goodwill impairments	(588,944)	(588,944)	(588,944)
Goodwill	66,818	66,837	65,783
Brooks Life Science Systems
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross goodwill	166,820	135,301	55,625
Goodwill	166,820	135,301	55,625
Other
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross goodwill	26,014	26,014	26,014
Accumulated goodwill impairments	$ (26,014)	$ (26,014)	$ (26,014)

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35741047&loc=d3e13816-109267

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388280&loc=d3e13770-109266

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64834752&loc=SL49117168-202975

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