We report on the X-ray absorption data for Indium-Gallium-Zink-Oxide thin films, amorphous ZnO films, amorphous SnOx films, and single crystalline In2O3, Ga2O3, ZnO, and SnO2 data. These absorption data probe the empty conduction band states explicitly. Also they allow for an elemental assignment using resonant excitation to derive the contributions of each metal ion. We find that the lowest states appear right at the Fermi energy and result from configuration interaction induced charge transfer states which we consider as intrinsic gap states. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.