To provide a technique suitable for elevating strength and toughness of a thin low-carbon steel. By performing rapid heating and rapid cooling to a thin low-carbon steel which is an ordinary steel with a thickness of 1.2 mm or less, a steel where a microstructure becomes a duplex grain size structure mixed with crystal grains having different grain diameters, which is not homogeneous, preferably, hard phase structures are contained in addition to the duplex grain size structure is obtained, and a high-strength and high-toughness thin low-carbon steel is obtained. Further, by performing a heat treatment process involving rapid heating and rapid cooling multiple times, a duplex grain size structure of crystal grains with smaller grain diameters or a hard phase structure contained therein is obtained, so that a thin low-carbon steel with higher strength and higher toughness is obtained.