Methods of using heat sinks include placing a pin fin compliant heat sink on a non-flat surface. The pin fin complaint heat sink has top and bottom plates connected by a plurality of pins arranged vertically between the top and bottom plates. The top and bottom plates are vertically conformed to local deviations of the non-flat surface. The top and bottom plates are laterally conformed to an overall shape of the surface. At least either the top or bottom plate is corrugated.