Both Panasonic LF1 and Canon SD980 IS have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic LF1's sensor is 1/1.7-inch (7.44 x 5.58 mm ) and Canon SD980 IS's sensor is 1/2.3-inch (6.17 x 4.55 mm ).
Since Panasonic LF1'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 Canon SD980 IS.
Below you can see the LF1 and SD980 IS sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Panasonic LF1 has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Canon SD980 IS. 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.