Both Canon N100 and Panasonic ZS50 have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Canon N100's sensor is 1/1.7-inch (7.44 x 5.58 mm ) and Panasonic ZS50's sensor is (1/2. ).
Since Canon N100's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Panasonic ZS50.
Below you can see the N100 and ZS50 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon N100 has a infx Larger sensor area than Panasonic ZS50. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.