Debt (Details Textual) (USD $)	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended													12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 07, 2012	Oct. 30, 2011	Oct. 19, 2011	Dec. 30, 2009	Oct. 31, 2009	Oct. 09, 2009	Feb. 28, 2008	Jun. 20, 2007	Mar. 31, 2007	Feb. 28, 2003	Dec. 31, 2012 Comerica Credit Facility [Member]	Oct. 05, 2012 Comerica Credit Facility [Member]	Oct. 19, 2011 Comerica Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Term loan [Member]	Dec. 07, 2012 Term loan [Member]	Oct. 19, 2011 Domestic Receivables and Inventory Revolving Line [Member] Comerica Credit Facility [Member]	Oct. 19, 2011 Export Import Receivables Revolving Line [Member] Comerica Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Equipment loan [Member]	Apr. 02, 2012 Due Two Thousand Seven [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Secured equipment financing Cost		$ 3,000,000
Percentage facility fund not more than cost of pilot plant and research and development equipment		30.00%
Facility is to be paid at an interest rate																						9.00%
Facility Interest Rate Payments period																						126 months
Equipment loan amount		2,900,000													0
Debt instrument repurchased face amount																							34,900,000
Conversions of convertible senior notes to common stock		0	0	2,200,000
Principal amount outstanding for a total cash payment of 2007 notes			38,645,000	20,550,000																			35,800,000
Credit facilities					7,500,000											10,000,000				3,000,000	10,000,000
Interest rate of Senior Convertible Notes			9.00%	8.00%									5.50%					11.50%
Common stock warrant purchase price		$ 2.49															$ 2.64
Purchase price of warrant		2,900,000				200,000		1,100,000	900,000					100,000			246,212
Maturity date of term loan															Oct. 05, 2014			Dec. 07, 2017
Period of term loan																		5 years
Principal		25,200,000	39,889,000	21,000,000															22,500,000
Expiration date of warrant															Oct. 19, 2016
Debt (Textual) [Abstract]
Prepayment amounts outstanding		50.00%
Percentage of involuntarily disposition		100.00%
Percentage of prepayment premium		15.00%
Total revenue		7,500,000
Percentage of premium price over closing price		17.50%
Price based anti-dilution adjustments		$ 2.12
Unamortized costs recorded							500,000
Exercise price of Warrants		208.73				2.64		61.92	0.40	7.59	53.28	22.44		264
Expiration date of warrant															Oct. 19, 2016
Derivative warrants Fair value		3,909,000	347,000
Exercisable period of warrants or rights		7 years
Percentage of domestic accounts receivable					80.00%
Percentage of foreign accounts receivable					90.00%
Borrowing capacity against eligible foreign and domestic receivables		5,900,000
Letter of credit commitment		1,600,000
Minimum tangible net worth		10,000,000
Percentage of equity proceeds received		50.00%
Revolving credit facility interest rate		4.75%
Increase of sale securities aggregate amount		5,000,000
Outstanding Under Comerica Line		0
Gain (loss) on debt extinguishment	$ 15,349,000	$ 0	$ 15,349,000	$ (3,384,000)