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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Valuation allowance $ 27,151,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 9,547,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance  
Income tax (expense) benefit (254,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitContinuingOperationsAdjustmentOfDeferredTaxAssetLiability    
Net operation loss deduction 100,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards    
Investment tax credits and research and development credits scheduled to expire 2017    
Liability for uncertain tax positions 2,600,000us-gaap_LiabilityForUncertainTaxPositionsCurrent    
Amount of unrecognized or expected tax benefits recorded in financial statement 1,100,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncreasesResultingFromCurrentPeriodTaxPositions    
Penalties related to income taxes 0us-gaap_IncomeTaxExaminationPenaltiesAccrued 0us-gaap_IncomeTaxExaminationPenaltiesAccrued 0us-gaap_IncomeTaxExaminationPenaltiesAccrued
Unrecognized potential tax benefits 1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsThatWouldImpactEffectiveTaxRate    
Number of period for which income tax is exempted 10 years    
Decreased foreign taxes 335,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount 651,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount 1,300,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount
Benefit of tax holiday on net income per share (diluted) $ 0.01us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayIncomeTaxBenefitsPerShare $ 0.03us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayIncomeTaxBenefitsPerShare $ 0.06us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayIncomeTaxBenefitsPerShare
Tax holiday additional renewal period 5 years    
Cumulative undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries 11,100,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries    
Federal [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Net operation loss deduction 117,800,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember
   
Operating loss carry forwards expiration year 2021    
Tax credit carry forward amount 426,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember
   
State and Local Jurisdiction [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Net operation loss deduction 144,900,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_StateAndLocalJurisdictionMember
   
Operating loss carry forwards expiration year 2019    
Deferred tax asset 26,400,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsDeferredIncome
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_StateAndLocalJurisdictionMember
   
Federal [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Deferred tax asset 21,700,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsDeferredIncome
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= rbcn_FederalMember
   
Malaysia [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Number of period for which income tax is exempted 5 years    
Research [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Tax credit carry forward amount 171,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= us-gaap_ResearchMember
   
Investment Credit [Member]      
Investments, Owned, Federal Income Tax Note [Line Items]      
Tax credit carry forward amount $ 53,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= us-gaap_InvestmentCreditMember