Long-Term Contracts (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2017
Display-Only
Upfront payment received		$ 5,000,000
Deferred Revenue, Description		In May 2018, we signed a five-year license agreement with a customer granting them exclusive license to our LBS technology for display-only applications. As part of the agreement, we received a first payment of $5.0 million in June 2018, and the customer is required to make a second payment of $5.0 million in October 2018. The contract includes requirements that must be met in order to maintain exclusivity. In addition to the up-front license fees, we expect payments for non-recurring engineering expenses associated with process and product transfer and qualification milestones, and component sales.
LBS Display System
Upfront payment received			$ 10,000,000
Contract revenue from development fees	$ 2,000,000	$ 4,000,000
Deferred Revenue, Description		In April 2017, we signed a contract with a major technology company to develop an LBS display system. Under this agreement, we are working to develop a new generation of MEMS, ASICs and related firmware for a high resolution, LBS-based product that the technology company is planning to produce. Under the agreement, we received an upfront payment of $10.0 million in 2017 and may receive up to $14.0 million in fees for development work that is expected to span through the first quarter of 2019. Our receipt of the development fees is contingent on completion of milestones in 2017 and 2018. As of June 30, 2018, we have received $6.5 million in fees for development work and our balance sheet includes $446,000 of billings in excess of costs incurred on this contract. Upon successful completion of the development program, if the major technology company decides to manufacture the product with the MicroVision display components, the $10.0 million upfront payment would be applied as a discount to future component purchases from us. If the contract is terminated by the technology company for our failure to meet milestones, the $10.0 million upfront payment is subject to repayment. We are recognizing revenue on the $14.0 million in development fees over time based on the proportion of total cost expended (under Topic 606, the "input method") to the total cost expected to complete the contract performance obligation. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, we have recognized $2.0 million and $4.0 million, respectively, of contract revenue from development fees on this agreement. We have an amount equal to the $10.0 million upfront payment classified as an other current liability on the balance sheet.
Deferred revenue, classified within other currrent liabilities	$ 10,000,000	$ 10,000,000

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 605
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 13.A.4(a).Q1)
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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82887183&loc=d3e6935-107765

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