We describe structured point-contact thermoelectric
devices that confine the thermal gradients and electric fields at
the boundaries of the cold end, and exploits the reduction of
thermal conductivity at the interfaces, tunneling properties of
point contacts, and the poor electron-phonon coupling at the
junctions. We propose a theory of the structured cold point
metal-semiconductor contacts and detail the design of cold
point thermoelectric coolers. Temperature and electrical measurements
of prototype cold point coolers using bismuth chalcogenides
in vacuum indicate doubling of the thermoelectric
figure-of-merit ZT values to the range of 1.4-1.7 at room temperature.