The present disclosure describes a distributed amplifier (DA) that includes active device cells within sections that are configured to provide an input gate termination that is conducive for relatively low noise and high linearity operation. A section adjacent to an output of the DA is configured to effectively terminate the impedance of an input transmission line of the DA. Each active device cell includes transistors coupled in a cascode configuration that thermally distributes a junction temperature among the transistors. In this manner, noise generated by a common source transistor of the cascode configuration is minimized. The transistors coupled in the cascode configuration may be fabricated using gallium nitride (GaN) technology to reduce physical size of the DA and to further reduce noise.