Litigation and Asserted Claims (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified				1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended						1 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Hynix Litigation - U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California	Jan. 31, 2006 Micron Litigation - U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California Patent	Mar. 31, 2013 Micron Litigation - European Patent Infringement Cases	Sep. 30, 2012 Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek, and STMicroelectronics Litigation Item	Mar. 31, 2013 Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco	May 05, 2004 Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco Item	Jan. 29, 2013 Micron Litigation - Superior Court of California for County of San Francisco	Jan. 29, 2013 Hynix Litigation - Superior Court of California for County of San Francisco	Mar. 01, 2007 Stock Option Investigation Related Claims	Jan. 31, 2013 Micron Litigation - U.S. District Court in Delaware: Case No. 00-792-SLR	Aug. 31, 2000 Micron Litigation - U.S. District Court in Delaware: Case No. 00-792-SLR Patent
Loss Contingencies
Accrued litigation expenses	$ 10,256	$ 9,822	$ 8,100				$ 900		$ 520	$ 350
Number of patent claims invalid													8
Number of patent claims infringed or in suit				14									12
Number of days for directing judgement by the court												30 days
Number of appeals					2
Number of Samsung-related entities added as defendants								3
Number of shareholders whose actions were filed											2
Number of respondents						1